Forexpros - The Australian dollar slumped to a 12-day low against its U.S. counterpart on Thursday, after Japan intervened to weaken the yen, lifting the greenback across the board, while weak U.S. economic data added to overall risk aversion.
AUD/USD hit 1.0651 during late Asian trade, the pair's lowest since July 19; the pair subsequently consolidated at 1.0684, shedding 0.66%.
The pair was likely to find support at 1.0598, the low of July 19 and resistance at 1.0785, Wednesday's high.
Japanese Finance Minister Yoshihiko Noda confirmed earlier that the country intervened to curb the yen's gains for the first time since March, sending the yen sharply lower against all major currencies.
In addition, the Bank of Japan announced additional monetary easing to further bolster growth, pledging to buy more assets such as stocks and bonds.
Elsewhere, concerns over a slowdown in global growth lingered after a report on Wednesday showed activity in the U.S. services sector declined unexpectedly in July, falling to the lowest level since February 2010.
A separate report showed that U.S. factory orders declined more-than-expected in June.
Meanwhile, the Aussie was higher against the yen, with AUD/JPY surging 2.43% to hit 84.87.
Later Thursday, the U.S. was to publish government data on initial jobless claims.
The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.
The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.
