Forexpros – The Australian dollar was almost unchanged against its U.S. counterpart on Thursday, as investors remained cautious ahead of a meeting of euro zone finance ministers on Friday to reach an agreement on the size of the bailout fund for indebted countries.
AUD/USD hit 1.0341 during late Asian trade, the pair’s lowest since March 22; the pair subsequently consolidated at 1.0388, dipping 0.01%.
The pair was likely to find support at 1.0301, the low of January 17 and resistance at 1.0434, the high of January 19.
Markets were jittery as European governments were preparing for a one-year increase in the ceiling on rescue aid to EUR940 billion euros to keep the region’s debt crisis at bay.
Euro zone ministers were expected to decide at a meeting in Copenhagen on Friday to run the EUR500 billion permanent European Stability Mechanism alongside the EUR200 billion committed by the temporary fund, the European Financial Stability Facility.
Elsewhere, official data showed that retail sales in Japan rose more-than-expected in February, adding 3.5% after a 1.8% increase the previous month.
Japan is Australia’s biggest export partner.
The Aussie was also lower against the New Zealand dollar with AUD/NZD shedding 0.18%, to hit 1.2691.
Also Thursday, the National Bank of New Zealand said earlier that its index of business confidence rose to 33.8 in March from 28.0 the previous month.
Later Thursday, the U.S. was to publish government data on unemployment claims and final data on fourth quarter gross domestic product. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke was also due to speak.
Forexpros
