Investing.com - The Australian dollar rose to two-week highs against its U.S. counterpart on Thursday, as investors locked in profits from the greenback's broad rally sparked by growing expectations for a December rate hike in the U.S.
AUD/USD hit 0.7177 during late Asian trade, the pair's highest since November 4; the pair subsequently consolidated at 0.7163, advancing 0.75%.
The pair was likely to find support at 0.7070, the low of November 17 and resistance at 0.7225, the high of November 4.
The greenback strengthened broadly after the minutes of the Fed's October meeting showed on Wednesday that a majority of board members are in favor of a December rate hike.
"While no decision had been made, it may well become appropriate to initiate the normalization process at the next meeting," the minutes said.
The report came after the U.S. Commerce Department reported that housing starts dropped 11% to 1.060 million units last month from September’s total of 1.191 million units. Analysts had expected a decline of 3.9% to 1.160 million.
Meanwhile, the number of U.S. building permits issued rose 4.1% to 1.150 million units from September’s total of 1.105 million, broadly in line with market expectations.
The Aussie was higher against the euro, with EUR/AUD dropping 0.48% to 1.4921.