Investing.com - The Australian dollar rose to one-week highs against its U.S. counterpart on Wednesday, after data showed that Australia's economy grew at a faster rate than expected in the first quarter, while demand for the greenback continued to cool.
AUD/USD hit 0.7819 during late Asian trade, the pair's highest since May 26; the pair subsequently consolidated at 0.7804, gaining 0.46%.
The pair was likely to find support at 0.7723, the low of May 26 and resistance at 0.7840, the high of May 26.
In a report, the Australian Bureau of Statistics said gross domestic product rose 0.9% in the first quarter, beating expectations for a growth rate of 0.7% and after a 0.5% rise in the last three months of 2014.
Year-on-year, Australia's GDP rose 2.3% in the three months to March, compared to expectations for an increase of 2.1%, following a 2.5% growth rate in the last quarter of 2014.
Meanwhile, demand for the greenback remained under pressure after the U.S. Commerce Department said on Tuesday that factory orders fell 0.4% in April, confounding expectations for a 0.2% increase.
On a year-over-year basis, factory orders dropped 6.4%, the sixth straight monthly decline.
The unexpectedly weak data sparked fresh fears over the outlook for second quarter growth after data last month showed that the U.S. economy contracted 0.2% in the first quarter.
The Aussie was also higher against the euro, with EUR/AUD slipping 0.15% to 1.4324.
Later in the day, the U.S. was to release reports on trade balance and service sector activity.