Investing.com - The Australian dollar rose against its U.S. counterpart on Thursday, easing off five-and-a-half year lows after the release of strong building approvals data from Australia, while optimism over the strength of the U.S. economy continued to support the greenback.
AUD/USD hit 0.8116 during late Asian trade, the pair's highest since Tuesday; the pair subsequently consolidated at 0.8098, rising 0.26%.
The pair was likely to find support at 0.8031, Wednesday's low and a five-and-a-half month low and resistance at 0.8186, the high of January 2.
In a report, the Australian Bureau of Statistics said that building approvals increased by 7.5% in November, confounding expectations for a 3.5% decline. Building approvals rose by 11.5% in October, whose figure was revised from a previously estimated 11.4% gain.
Meanwhile, the greenback continued to be underpinned after a report on Wednesday showed that the U.S. private sector added a larger-then-forecast 241,000 jobs in December.
The upbeat data boosted the outlook for the U.S. recovery and raised expectations for a strong reading of the government nonfarm payrolls due on Friday.
On Wednesday, the minutes of the Federal Reserve’s December meeting did little to alter expectations that U.S. interest rates will start to rise later this year.
The Aussie was also higher against the euro, with EUR/AUD retreating 0.47% to 1.4590.
Later in the day, the U.S. was to produce its weekly report on initial jobless claims.