Investing.com - The Australian dollar rallied over 1% to two-week highs against its U.S. counterpart on Tuesday, supported by the release of strong retail sales and trade data from Australia and after the Reserve Bank of Australia left interest rates unchanged.
AUD/USD hit 0.7382 during late Asian trade, the pair's highest since July 23; the pair subsequently consolidated at 0.7377, jumping 1.27%.
The pair was likely to find support at 0.7264, the session low and resistance at 0.7422, the high of July 23.
The Australian Bureau of Statistics reported on Tuesday that retail sales increased by 0.7% in June, beating expectations for a 0.5% gain. Retail sales rose 0.4% in May, whose figure was revised from a previously estimated 0.3% uptick.
A separate report showed that Australia's trade deficit narrowed to A$2.93 billion in June from A$2.68 billion in May, whose figure was revised from a previously estimated deficit of A$2.75 billion.
Analysts had expected the trade deficit to widen to A$3.10 billion in June.
At the same time, the RBA decided to hold its benchmark interest rate at 2.00%, in line with expectations.
Commenting on the decision, the central bank said that monetary policy needs to be accommodative and that low interest rates are currently acting to support borrowing and spending.
Meanwhile, the greenback remained under pressure after the Institute for Supply Management said on Monday that its index of purchasing managers fell to 52.7 last month from a reading of 53.5 in June. Analysts had expected the manufacturing PMI to hold steady at 53.5 in July.
The Aussie was also sharply higher against the euro, with EUR/AUD tumbling 1.18% to 1.4852.