Investing.com - The Australian continued to gain strength against its U.S. rival during Wednesday’s Asian session following a decent second-quarter GDP reading out of the world’s 12th-largest economy.
In Asian trading Wednesday, AUD/USD traded lower earlier in the session, but rallied 0.35% to 0.9093. The pair was likely to find support at 0.8937, Monday's high and resistance at 0.9122, the high of August 20.
Earlier Wednesday, the Australian Bureau of Statistics said that Australia’s second-quarter GDP grew 0.6% compared with first-quarter growth of 0.5%. The first-quarter number was revised down from growth of 0.6%. Analysts expected second-quarter growth of 0.6%.
The solid GDP reading comes a day after the Reserve Bank of Australia, one of many major developed market central banks that will meet this week, left rates unchanged at a record low of 2.5%. Commenting on the decision, RBA Governor Glenn Stevens said the bank "will continue to assess the outlook and adjust policy as needed to foster sustainable growth in demand and inflation outcomes consistent with the target."
Separately, official data showed that retail sales in Australia rose 0.1% in July, below expectations for a 0.4% increase, after a flat reading the previous month.
Data also showed that Australia's current account widened unexpectedly in the second quarter, falling to AUD9.4 billion from a downwardly revised deficit of AUD8.7 billion in the three months to March. Analysts had expected the current account deficit to remain unchanged in the last quarter.
The Aussie stood out as one of the few majors to make noticeable gains against the green back after the Institute for Supply Management said its August manufacturing index climbed to 55.7% from 55.4% in July, good for the highest reading since June 2011. Economists expected a reading of 54.1%. The new orders index soared to 63.2% from 58.3%, but the production index fell to 62.4% from 65%.That data point was released during Tuesday’s U.S. session.
Elsewhere, AUD/JPY rose 0.28% to 90.48 while AUD/NZD advanced 0.33% to 1.1658.
In Asian trading Wednesday, AUD/USD traded lower earlier in the session, but rallied 0.35% to 0.9093. The pair was likely to find support at 0.8937, Monday's high and resistance at 0.9122, the high of August 20.
Earlier Wednesday, the Australian Bureau of Statistics said that Australia’s second-quarter GDP grew 0.6% compared with first-quarter growth of 0.5%. The first-quarter number was revised down from growth of 0.6%. Analysts expected second-quarter growth of 0.6%.
The solid GDP reading comes a day after the Reserve Bank of Australia, one of many major developed market central banks that will meet this week, left rates unchanged at a record low of 2.5%. Commenting on the decision, RBA Governor Glenn Stevens said the bank "will continue to assess the outlook and adjust policy as needed to foster sustainable growth in demand and inflation outcomes consistent with the target."
Separately, official data showed that retail sales in Australia rose 0.1% in July, below expectations for a 0.4% increase, after a flat reading the previous month.
Data also showed that Australia's current account widened unexpectedly in the second quarter, falling to AUD9.4 billion from a downwardly revised deficit of AUD8.7 billion in the three months to March. Analysts had expected the current account deficit to remain unchanged in the last quarter.
The Aussie stood out as one of the few majors to make noticeable gains against the green back after the Institute for Supply Management said its August manufacturing index climbed to 55.7% from 55.4% in July, good for the highest reading since June 2011. Economists expected a reading of 54.1%. The new orders index soared to 63.2% from 58.3%, but the production index fell to 62.4% from 65%.That data point was released during Tuesday’s U.S. session.
Elsewhere, AUD/JPY rose 0.28% to 90.48 while AUD/NZD advanced 0.33% to 1.1658.