Investing.com - The Australian dollar was lower against its U.S. counterpart on Thursday, as the Federal Reserve's most recent policy meeting minutes lent broad support to the greenback.
AUD/USD hit 0.8567 during late Asian trade, the pair's lowest since November 7; the pair subsequently consolidated at 0.8578, retreating 0.45%.
The pair was likely to find support at 0.8538, the low of November 7 and resistance at 0.8685, the high of November 10.
The greenback was boosted after the minutes of the Fed's October meeting indicated that officials believe the economic recovery is strong enough to withstand external threats to growth, but offered little additional clarity about when rates could start to rise.
Meanwhile, market sentiment remained under pressure after Japan’s prime minister announced plans this week to delay a sales tax hike due to take place next year, after an increase in April played a part in pulling Japan into a recession.
Separately, data earlier showed that China’s HSBC manufacturing purchasing managers' index fell to a six-month low of 50.0 this month from a final reading of 50.4 in October and well below the 50.3 forecast by analysts.
China is Australia's biggest export partner.
The Aussie was also lower against the euro, with EUR/AUD rising 0.33% to 1.4615.
Later in the day, the U.S. was to release data on initial jobless claims, consumer prices, existing homes sales and manufacturing activity in the Philadelphia region.