Australian dollar rose in Asian trade off January 3, 2017 lows versus US counterpart, following earlier labor data from Australia, and ahead of housing, unemployment data from the US later today.
As of 02:58 GMT, AUD/USD rose 0.33% to 0.7263, with an intraday high at 0.7271, and a low at 0.7219.
Earlier Australian data showed inflation expectations by consumers rose to 4.0% in August from 3.9%, while the seasonally adjusted reading for unemployment fell to 5.3% in July, the lowest since 2012.
A less bright spot is the employment change, which actually fell 3.9 thousand in July, compared to a 58.2 thousand increase in June, while analysts expected a 15.0 thousand addition.
Now investors await US unemployment claims data, expected to have increased 2 thousand to 215 thousand in the week ending August 11, while continuing claims are estimated to have fallen 14 thousand to 1.741 million in the week ending August 4.
An index tracking the manufacturing sector in Philadelphia is estimated to slow down to 21.9 from 25.7 in July, while housing permits are expected at 1.31 million in July, up 1.4%, as housing starts are estimated at 1.27 million in July, up 7.4%.