Forexpros -The Australian dollar fell to its lowest level in two weeks against its U.S. counterpart on Wednesday, as increased risk aversion hit demand for higher yielding assets while weak domestic retail sales data also weighed.
AUD/USD hit 1.0680 during late Asian trade, the pair's lowest since July 19; the pair subsequently consolidated at 1.0720, shedding 0.39%.
The pair was likely to find support at 1.0598, the low of July 19 and resistance at 1.0856, the high of July 21.
The outlook for global growth remained clouded after data on Tuesday showed that U.S. consumer spending dropped in June for the first time in nearly two years and incomes barely rose.
Meanwhile, the risk of a U.S. sovereign debt downgrade lingered, despite the passage through the Senate of a bill to raise the country's debt ceiling by at least USD2.1 trillion, averting a U.S. default.
In Australia, the Bureau of Statistics said earlier that retail sales decreased 0.1% in June, after falling by 0.6% the previous month. Analysts had forecast an increase of 0.4%.
A separate report said that country had a trade surplus of AUD2.05 billion in June, less than the expected AUD2.20 surplus.
The Aussie was also lower against the yen, with AUD/JPY dipping 0.03% to hit 83.12.
Later in the day, payroll processing firm ADP was publish a report on U.S. non-farm payrolls, while the U.S. Institute of Supply Management was to publish data on service sector growth.
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The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.
