Investing.com - The Australian dollar rose against its U.S. counterpart on Thursday, supported by the release of upbeat Australian building approvals data, while investors eyed upcoming U.S. employment data.
AUD/USD hit 0.8816 during late Asian trade, the pair's highest since September 25; the pair subsequently consolidated at 0.8785, gaining 0.60%.
The pair was likely to find support at 0.8691, the low of September 30 and resistance at 0.8888, the high of September 25.
Official data earlier showed that Australian building approvals increased by 3.0% in August, exceeding expectations for a 1.0% rise. Building approvals for July were revised to a 2.1% gain from a previously estimated 2.5% increase.
A separate report showed that Australia's trade deficit narrowed to A$0.79 billion in August from A$1.08 billion in July, whose figure was revised from a previously estimated deficit of A$1.36 billion.
Analysts had expected the trade deficit to narrow to A$0.700 billion.
Investors were also looking ahead to Friday’s U.S. nonfarm payrolls report, which was expected to show that the U.S. economy added more than 200,000 jobs for a sixth successive month in August.
A report by payroll processor ADP on Wednesday showed that the U.S. private sector added 213,000 jobs last month, slightly ahead of expectations for jobs growth of 210,000.
The Aussie was also higher against the euro, with EUR/AUD retreating 0.55% to 1.4370.
Later in the day, the U.S. was to release the weekly report on jobless claims.