Investing.com - The Australian dollar rose to two-and-a-half month highs against its U.S. counterpart on Monday, supported by the release of upbeat Chinese manufacturing data
AUD/USD hit 0.9445 during late Asian trade, the pair's highest since April 10; the pair subsequently consolidated at 0.9439, gaining 0.52%.
The pair was likely to find support at 0.9378, the low of June 20 and resistance at 0.9461.
A report earlier showed that China’s HSBC manufacturing purchasing managers’ index came in at 50.8 in June, up from a final reading of 49.4 in May. It was the first time the index has risen above the 50 level separating growth from contraction in six months.
The data eased fears over recent signs of a slowdown in the world’s second largest economy.
Meanwhile, demand for the greenback remained under pressure after Federal Reserve gave no indication last week of when interest rates could start to rise. In addition, the Fed’s forecast of where interest rates might reach in the long term fell from 4% to 3.75%.
The Aussie was higher against the euro, with EUR/AUD retreating 0.49% to 1.4417.
Later in the day, the U.S. was to release preliminary data on manufacturing activity and private sector data on existing home sales.