Investing.com - The Australian dollar dropped to one-and-a-half month lows against its U.S. counterpart on Thursday, after downbeat private capital expenditure data from Australia and as demand for the greenback remained broadly supported.
AUD/USD hit 0.7672 during late Asian trade, the pair's lowest since April 15; the pair subsequently consolidated at 0.7711, sliding 0.29%.
The pair was likely to find support at 0.7567, the low of April 15 and resistance at 0.7768, Wednesday's low.
In a report, the Australian Bureau of Statistics said that private capital expenditure declined by 4.4% in the first quarter, compared to expectations for a 2.4% fall.
The change in privaite capital expenditure in the three months to December was revised to a 1.7% slide from a previously estimated drop of 2.2%.
Meanwhile, demand for the greenback continued to be underpinned after data on Tuesday showed that U.S. business investment plans increased, consumer confidence improved and house prices extended gains.
The upbeat data supported the view that the Federal Reserve could start to raise interest rates later in the year if the economy continues to improve as expected.
The Aussie was also lower against the euro, with EUR/AUD climbing 0.66% to 1.4192.
Later in the day, the U.S. was to release the weekly report on unemployment claims, as well as data on pending home sales.