Investing.com - The Australian dollar jumped higher against its U.S. counterpart on Thursday, supported by the release of strong employment data out of Australia, while comments by Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke sent the greenback broadly lower.
AUD/USD hit 0.9306 during late Asian trade, the pair's highest since June 27; the pair subsequently consolidated at 0.9274, jumping 1.10%.
The pair was likely to find support at 0.9094, Wednesday's low and resistance at 0.9475, the high of June 11.
Official data showed that Australia's economy added 10,300 jobs in June, confounding expectations for a 2,500 decline, after a 700 fall the previous month.
The report also showed that Australia's unemployment rate ticked up to 5.7% last month, from 5.6% in May. Analysts had expected the unemployment rate to remain unchanged.
Separately, the Melbourne Institute said inflation expectations rose to 2.6% in June, fron 2.3% the previous month.
Meanwhile, the greenback came under broad selling pressure after Bernanke said the Fed will continue to maintain accommodative monetary policy for the foreseeable future, citing low levels of inflation and the high unemployment rate.
The comments came after the minutes of the central bank’s June policy meeting showed that Fed policymakers remain divided over when to begin tapering its USD85 billion-a-month asset purchase program.
The Aussie was also higher against the euro with EUR/AUD shedding 0.29%, to hit 1.4104.
Later in the day, the U.S. was to release the weekly report on initial jobless claims.
AUD/USD hit 0.9306 during late Asian trade, the pair's highest since June 27; the pair subsequently consolidated at 0.9274, jumping 1.10%.
The pair was likely to find support at 0.9094, Wednesday's low and resistance at 0.9475, the high of June 11.
Official data showed that Australia's economy added 10,300 jobs in June, confounding expectations for a 2,500 decline, after a 700 fall the previous month.
The report also showed that Australia's unemployment rate ticked up to 5.7% last month, from 5.6% in May. Analysts had expected the unemployment rate to remain unchanged.
Separately, the Melbourne Institute said inflation expectations rose to 2.6% in June, fron 2.3% the previous month.
Meanwhile, the greenback came under broad selling pressure after Bernanke said the Fed will continue to maintain accommodative monetary policy for the foreseeable future, citing low levels of inflation and the high unemployment rate.
The comments came after the minutes of the central bank’s June policy meeting showed that Fed policymakers remain divided over when to begin tapering its USD85 billion-a-month asset purchase program.
The Aussie was also higher against the euro with EUR/AUD shedding 0.29%, to hit 1.4104.
Later in the day, the U.S. was to release the weekly report on initial jobless claims.