Investing.com - The Australian dollar dropped against its U.S. counterpart on Thursday, after the release of downbeat economic reports from Australia, while investors eyed upcoming U.S. jobless claims data for further indications on the strength of the job market.
AUD/USD hit 0.7710 during late Asian trade, the pair's lowest since Tuesday; the pair subsequently consolidated at 0.7721, declining 0.83%.
The pair was likely to find support at 0.7615, the low of May 28 and resistance at 0.7820, the high of June 3.
The Australian Bureau of Statistics said that retail sales were flat in April, disappointing expectations for a 0.4% rise. The change in retail sales for March was revised to a 0.2% uptick from a previously estimated 0.3% gain.
A separate report showed that Australia's trade deficit widened to A$3.88 billion in April from A$1.23 billion in March, whose figure was revised from a previously estimated deficit of A$1.32 billion.
Market participants were looking to the weekly report on U.S. jobless claims due later in the day, as well as Friday's nonfarm payrolls data for further indications on the strength of the country's job market.
On Wednesday, payroll processing firm ADP said U.S. non-farm private employment rose by 201,000 last month, just above expectations for an increase of 200,000.
The Aussie was lower against the euro, with EUR/AUD advancing 0.57% to 1.4563.