Investing.com - The Australian dollar moved lower against the U.S. dollar Friday, following the release of promising data for the U.S. economy and an up day on Wall Street boosted by progress in Europe.
AUD/USD hit 1.0134 in early Asian trade, the pair’s lowest since Wednesday; the pair subsequently consolidated at 1.0140, falling 0.12%.
The pair was likely to find support at 0.9866, the low of October 12, and resistance at 1.0397, last Tuesday’s high.
On Thursday, the U.S. Department of Labor reported that the number of Americans filling for unemployment assistance fell to a seven-month low, down 10,000 to a seasonally adjusted 390,000 for the week ending November 4.
Market expectation were for jobless claims to reach 400,000 for the period.
Additionally, the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis announced that the U.S. trade deficit fell to a seasonally adjusted USD43.1 billion in September, down from USD44.9 billion in August.
Economists had forecast the U.S. trade deficit to widen to USD46.2 billion. It was the narrowest trade gap recorded since December of 2010, and the best one-month improvement since July.
Wall Street dealers snapped up oversold U.S. issues from the previous session, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average adding 0.94% to 11,891.70, the Nasdaq Composite Index rose 0.13% to 2,635.15, and the S&P 500 advanced 0.86% to close at 1,239.70.
Earlier in the day, surging Italian government bond yields that had startled the market abated, with yields on an auction of Italian government bills falling to 6.9% on Thursday from 7%, the rate at which Greece initiated requests for debt aid.
Market analysts forecast that the record high yields on Italian bonds were unsustainable and that if the country were to quickly name a successor to Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, it would further ease market anxieties over an Italian financial collapse.
In Sydney, Australian shares traded modestly high in early Thursday trade, with the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 edging up 0.15% to 4,250.55.
Meanwhile, the Australian dollar was lower against both the euro and the Japanese yen, with EUR/AUD rising 0.07% to hit 1.3412, and AUD/JPY down 0.30% to hit 78.58.
The University of Michigan was due to release its latest consumer sentiment index later Friday.