Investing.com - The Australian dollar was lower against its U.S. counterpart on Thursday, as concerns over the debt crisis in the euro zone remained in focus ahead of a French bond auction later in the day.
AUD/USD hit 1.0311 during late Asian trade, the daily low; the pair subsequently consolidated at 1.0331, shedding 0.35%.
The pair was likely to find support at 1.0270, the low of November 1 and resistance at 1.0403, the high of November 8.
Markets were jittery as France was preparing to sell up to 8 billion euros in 10 to 30-year government one day after an auction of German 10-year bonds met with subdued investor demand.
A downbeat result was likely to fuel fears that France could lose its triple-A credit rating in the coming weeks.
Investors were also eyeing a meeting on Friday between French President Nicolas Sarkozy and Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti to discuss ways of handling the debt crisis in the single currency area.
Earlier Thursday, the Australian Bureau of Statistics said that Australia’s trade balance rose less-than-expected in December, advancing to a seasonally adjusted AUD1.38 billion from AUD1.60B the previous month.
Analysts had expected Australia’s trade balance to rise to AUD1.66B in December.
A separate report showed that an index of services in Australia rose to 49 in December from a reading at 47.7 the previous month.
Elsewhere, the Aussie was lower against the euro with EUR/AUD rising 0.31%, to hit 1.2522.
Later in the day, the U.S. was to release the ADP report on private sector employment as well as data on initial jobless claims and service sector activity.
AUD/USD hit 1.0311 during late Asian trade, the daily low; the pair subsequently consolidated at 1.0331, shedding 0.35%.
The pair was likely to find support at 1.0270, the low of November 1 and resistance at 1.0403, the high of November 8.
Markets were jittery as France was preparing to sell up to 8 billion euros in 10 to 30-year government one day after an auction of German 10-year bonds met with subdued investor demand.
A downbeat result was likely to fuel fears that France could lose its triple-A credit rating in the coming weeks.
Investors were also eyeing a meeting on Friday between French President Nicolas Sarkozy and Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti to discuss ways of handling the debt crisis in the single currency area.
Earlier Thursday, the Australian Bureau of Statistics said that Australia’s trade balance rose less-than-expected in December, advancing to a seasonally adjusted AUD1.38 billion from AUD1.60B the previous month.
Analysts had expected Australia’s trade balance to rise to AUD1.66B in December.
A separate report showed that an index of services in Australia rose to 49 in December from a reading at 47.7 the previous month.
Elsewhere, the Aussie was lower against the euro with EUR/AUD rising 0.31%, to hit 1.2522.
Later in the day, the U.S. was to release the ADP report on private sector employment as well as data on initial jobless claims and service sector activity.