Investing.com - The Australian dollar moved lower against the U.S. dollar Thursday, following overnight Wall Street losses and a Federal Reserve report pointing to continued weak U.S. economic conditions.
AUD/USD hit 1.0208 in early Asian trade, the pair’s lowest since Wednesday; the pair subsequently consolidated at 1.0214, falling 0.11%.
The pair was likely to find support at 0.9906, last Thursday’s low, and short-term resistance at 1.0416, the high of September 12.
In its Beige Book survey released Wednesday, the Fed said, “Overall economic activity continued to expand in September, although many districts described the pace of growth as modest or slight. Contacts generally noted weaker or less certain outlooks for business conditions,” the report said.
Earlier Wednesday, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that the core consumer price inflation index rose less than expected last month, up 0.1% in September from 0.2% in August, the smallest increase since March.
Economists had forecast the index to rise by 0.2% during the period.
Elsewhere, the U.S. Census Bureau reported that housing starts totaled 660,000 in September, the highest level in 17 months, outstripping market expectations of a 590,000 rise.
Wall Street erased modest morning session gains following release of the Beige Book, ending Wednesday lower; The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 0.63% to 11,504.62, the Nasdaq Composite Index fell 2.01% to 2,604.04 and the S&P 500 declined 1.26% to close the day at 1,209.88.
In Sydney, Australian shares moved lower in early Thursday trade, with the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 dropping 1.56% to 4,148.50.
Meanwhile, the Australian dollar was higher against the euro but down against the Japanese yen, with EUR/AUD gaining 0.04% to hit 1.3458, and AUD/JPY down 0.11% to hit 78.42.
The National Australia Bank’s quarterly business confidence survey of economic conditions was due out later in the day.