Investing.com - The Australian dollar rose against its U.S. counterpart on Wednesday, after the release of positive economic reports from Australia, although demand for the greenback still remained supported.
AUD/USD hit 0.8878 during late Asian trade, the pair's highest since January 16; the pair subsequently consolidated at 0.8881, climbing 0.85%.
The pair was likely to find support at 0.8776, Tuesday's low and resistance at 0.8971, the high of January 15.
Official data earlier showed that consumer price inflation in Australia rose 0.8% in the fourth quarter, more than the expected 0.5% rise, after a 1.2% increase in the three months to September.
Australia's trimmed mean consumer price inflation, which excludes the most volatile 30% of items, increased by 0.9% in the last quarter, exceeding expectations for a 0.6% rise, after a 0.7% gain in the third quarter.
Separately, the Westpac Banking Corporation said its consumer sentiment index for Australia fell 1.7% this month, after a 4.8% decline in December.
Meanwhile, demand for the greenback remained supported by expectations for a reduction to the Federal Reserve’s quantitative easing program at its policy meeting next week to USD65 billion from the current USD75 billion.
The Aussie was higher against the euro, with EUR/AUD retreating 0.87% to 1.5262.