Investing.com - The Australian dollar was steady against its U.S. counterpart on Monday, as sentiment on the greenback was vulnerable, but gains were limited by data showing that Chinese growth slowed in the third quarter.
AUD/USD hit 0.7290 during late Asian trade, the session high; the pair subsequently consolidated at 0.7269.
The pair was likely to find support at 0.7195, the low of October 14 and resistance at 0.7365, the high of October 15.
Sentiment on the greenback remained vulnerable after the release of mixed U.S. economic reports on Friday.
The preliminary reading of the University of Michigan’s consumer sentiment index came in at 92.1 compared to forecasts of 89 and up from 87.2 in September.
But another report showed that U.S. industrial production declined 0.2% in September, pressured lower by weakness in the oil and gas sector.
Earlier Monday, data showed that China’s economic growth slowed to 6.9% in the third quarter, down from 7% in the previous quarter. The figure is the country's slowest growth rate since 2009.
China is Australia's biggest export partner.
The Aussie was lower against the euro, with EUR/AUD rising 0.22% to 1.5652.