Investing.com - The Australian dollar dropped to five-week lows against its U.S. counterpart on Tuesday, after disappointing Australian business confidence data and as demand for the greenback remained broadly supported.
AUD/USD hit 0.7632 during late Asian trade, the pair's lowest since February 3; the pair subsequently consolidated at 0.7654, retreating 0.67%.
The pair was likely to find support at 0.7623, the low of February 3 and resistance at 0.7781, the high of February 12.
In a report, the National Australia Bank said that its business confidence index fell to zero in February from a reading of 3 the previous month.
Meanwhile, the greenback remained supported after the latest U.S. jobs report heigthened expectations for higher interest rates.
The Fed is expected to begin raising interest rates around the middle of this year and investors were looking ahead to next week’s policy statement to see if it would drop its reference to being patient before raising rates.
The Aussie was also lower against the euro, with EUR/AUD rising 0.32% to 1.4130.