Investing.com - The Australian dollar slipped lower against its U.S. counterpart on Thursday, after the release of mixed economic reports out of Australia, while comments by Reserve Bank of Australia Glenn Stevens led investors to remain cautious.
AUD/USD hit 0.9206 during late Asian trade, the pair's lowest since March 26; the pair subsequently consolidated at 0.9223, shedding 0.27%.
The pair was likely to find support at 0.9154, the low of March 26 and resistance at 0.9302, the high of April 1 and a more than four-month high.
Official data earlier showed that retail sales in Australia rose 0.2% in February, less than the expected 0.3% increase, after a 1.2% gain the previous month.
A separate report showed that Australia's trade surplus narrowed to A$1.20 billion in February, from A$1.39 billion in January, whose figure was revised down from a previously estimated surplus of A$1.43 billion.
Analysts had expected the trade surplus to narrow to A$0.82 billion in February.
Meanwhile, RBA Governor Stevens said it was too early to be sure a handover from mining investment to domestic-led growth will occur smoothly.
"There are some promising early signs that things may turn out not too badly. But early signs are just that: early," he said.
Stevens was speaking at the American Chamber of Commerce in Australia iiNet Business Luncheon, in Brisbane.
The Aussie was lower against the euro, with EUR/AUD rising 0.28% to 1.4929.
Markets were also jittery as recent weak euro zone inflation data has added to pressure on the European Central Bank to take steps to stave off the risk of deflation at its monthly policy meeting, scheduled later in the trading session.
Later Thursday, the U.S. was to publish data on the trade balance, was well as the weekly report on initial jobless claims. In addition, the Institute of Supply Management was to publish a report service sector activity.