Forexpros – The Australian dollar rose against its U.S. counterpart on Thursday, as sentiment was lifted by hopes the European Central Bank will announce fresh easing measures later in the day, while the Fed refrained from taking more stimulus steps at its Wednesday meeting.
AUD/USD hit 1.0490 during late Asian trade, the daily high; the pair subsequently consolidated at 1.0474, rising 0.15%.
The pair was likely to find support at 1.0383, the low of July 27 and resistance at 1.0574, the high of March 12.
Sentiment improved as expectations that the ECB may resume its bond buying program, to help lower Spanish and Italian borrowing costs, have been building since central bank President Mario Draghi pledged last week to do whatever it takes to preserve the euro.
Investors remained cautious however, amid concerns that an inadequate policy response by the ECB could send markets lower.
Meanwhile, the U.S. central bank stopped short of launching a third round of quantitative easing, at its policy-setting meeting on Wednesday.
The Fed did indicate, however, that it will “closely monitor” the economy and “will provide additional accommodation as needed to promote a stronger economic recovery and sustained improvement in labor market conditions.”
In Australia, official data showed earlier that the trade balance unexpectedly swung into a surplus in June, rising to a AUD0.01 billion surplus from a AUD0.31 billion deficit the previous month.
Analysts had expected the trade deficit to widen to AUD0.36 billion in June.
A separate report showed that retail sales in Australia rose more-than-expected in June, advancing 1% after a 0.8% increase the previous month and beating expectations for a 0.6% rise.
Elsewhere, the Aussie was steady against the euro with EUR/AUD easing 0.01%, to hit 1.1687.
Later in the day, the U.S. was to release government data on initial jobless claims and factory orders.
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