Investing.com - The Australian dollar rose against its U.S. counterpart on Monday, easing off five-and-a-half year lows as demand for the greenback remained under pressure after data on Friday showed that the U.S. economy grew less-than-expected in the last quarter.
AUD/USD hit 0.7795 during late Asian trade, the session high; the pair subsequently consolidated at 0.7788, adding 0.28%.
The pair was likely to find support at 0.7717, the low of January 29 and resistance at 0.7907, the high of January 29.
The greenback weakened moderately after the Commerce Department said in a report on Friday that the U.S. economy expanded 2.6% in the final three months of 2014, below expectations for a 3.0% gain and slowing sharply from growth of 5.0% in the three months to September.
Elsewhere, data showed that the China HSBC Manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index ticked down to 49.7 this month from 49.8 in December. Analysts had expected the index to remain unchanged.
China is Australia's biggest export partner.
The Aussie was steady against the euro, with EUR/AUD at 1.4525.
Later in the day, the U.S. was to produce a report on personal income and spending. The Institute of Supply Management was also to release data on manufacturing activity.