Investing.com - The Australian gained on Thursday in Asia as trade data boosted sentiment.
AUD/USD traded at 0.7488, up 0.43%, while USD/JPY changed hands at 107.16, up 0.13%.
The trade balance for March came in at a deficit of A$2.163 billion, compared with a deficit of A$2.9 billion seen. Data on the trend in imports showed a 1% gain and exports rose 4%.
Retail sales in Australia rose 0.4% in March month-on-month, and at a 0.5% quarter-on-quarter pace, a bit below expectations.
In China, the Caixin services PMI for April came in at 51.8, compared with a 52.6 level expected.
Earlier, in Australia, the HIA new homes sales figures for March month-on-month jumped 8.9% from a previous a fall of 5.3%.
The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, rose 0.04% to 93.23.
Overnight, the dollar remained broadly higher against the other major currencies on Wednesday, after the release of mostly positive U.S. data boosted optimism over the strength of the economy.
The Institute of Supply Management said its non-manufacturing purchasing manager's index improved to a four-month high of 55.7 last month from 54.5 in March. Analysts had expected the index to rise to 54.7.
At the same time, the U.S. Census Bureau said factory orders increased by 1.1%, better than forecasts for a gain of 0.6%. Factory orders fell 1.9% in February, whose figure was revised from a previously reported decline of 1.7%.
Earlier Wednesday, data showed that the U.S. trade deficit narrowed to $40.44 billion in March from $46.96 billion in February, whose figure was revised from a previously estimated deficit of $47.10 billion.
Analysts had expected the trade deficit to narrow to $41.50 billion in March.
In addition, payroll processing firm ADP said non-farm private employment rose by 156,000 last month, missing expectations for an increase of 196,000.
Earlier Wednesday, research group Markit said its euro zone services PMI slipped to 53.1 in April from 53.2 the previous month, confounding expectations for an unchanged reading.