Investing.com - The Australian dollar rallied over 1% against its U.S. counterpart on Tuesday, after upbeat Australian retail sales data and as the Reserve Bank of Australian left interest rates on hold.
AUD/USD hit 0.7712 during late Asian trade, the pair's highest since March 30; the pair subsequently consolidated at 0.7691, jumping 1.30%.
The pair was likely to find support at 0.7567, the low of April 3 and resistance at 0.7761, the high of March 30.
In a report, the Australian Bureau of Statistics said that retail sales rose 0.7% in February, exceeding expectations for a 0.4% gain. January's figure was revised to a 0.5% increase from a previously estimated 0.4% uptick.
Data also showed that job advertisements in Australia declined by 1.4% last month after a 0.7% rise in February, whose figure was revised from a previously estimated 0.9% gain.
Separately, the RBA held its benchmark interest rate at 2.25% on Tuesday, in a widely expected decision.
RBA Governor Glenn Stevens reiterated that "further easing may be appropriate over the period ahead, to foster sustainable growth in demand and inflation consistent with the target."
Meanwhile, the greenback remained under pressure after the Labor Department reported Friday that the U.S. economy added 126,000 new jobs in March, less than half of February’s gain and the smallest increase since December 2013.
The report added to doubts over the strength of the economic recovery, prompting investors to push back expectations for a rate hike by the Federal Reserve to the end of the year from midyear.
The Aussie was also sharply higher against the euro, with EUR/AUD tumbling 1.20% to 1.4212.