The Australian dollar strengthened against the other major currencies on Tuesday, after data showed that the nation’s retail sales rose more than expected in February.
Data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics showed that the total value of retail sales in Australia was up a seasonally adjusted 0.7 percent on month in February, coming in at A$24.059 billion. That beat forecasts for an increase of 0.4 percent following the upwardly revised 0.5 percent gain in January.
The Australian dollar rose to 4-day highs of 1.4346 against the euro and 1.0108 against the NZ dollar, from yesterday’s closing quotes of 1.4378 and 1.0061, respectively.
Moving away from an early 5-day low of 90.53 against the yen and a 4-day low of 0.7576 against the U.S. dollar, the aussie edged up to 91.06 and 0.7617, respectively. At yesterday’s close, the aussie was trading at 90.72 against the yen and 0.7589 against the greenback.
Having fallen to more than a 3-month low of 0.9453 against the Canadian dollar in early deals, the aussie climbed to 0.9498. The pair was quoted at 0.9466 at yesterday’s close.
If the aussie extends its uptrend, it is likely to find resistance around 1.40 against the euro, 1.03 against the kiwi, 92.54 against the yen, 0.78 against the greenback and 0.97 against the loonie.
The material has been provided by InstaForex Company – www.instaforex.com