Investing.com - The Australian dollar was higher against its U.S. counterpart on Monday, despite downbeat Australian new motor vehicle sales data as a recent string of weak U.S. data continued to weigh on the greenback.
AUD/USD hit 0.7795 during late Asian trade, the session high; the pair subsequently consolidated at 0.7781, gaining 0.30%.
The pair was likely to find support at 0.7691, the low of February 11 and resistance at 0.7843, the high of February 10.
The Australian Bureau of Statistics reported that new motor vehicle sales dropped 1.5% last month, after a 2.6% rise in December, whose figure was revised from a previously estimated increase of 3.0%.
Meanwhile, the greenback remained under pressure after data on Friday showed that the preliminary reading of the University of Michigan’s consumer sentiment index fell to 93.6, down from January’s final reading of 98.1. Economists had forecast an unchanged figure.
The report came a day after data showing that U.S. retail sales unexpectedly fell 0.8% last month after dropping 0.9% in December, indicating that consumer spending remained sluggish at the start of the year.
The Aussie was steady against the euro, with EUR/AUD at 1.4668.