2013.10.3023:46:00UTC+00Australian Dollar Up After Building Approvals, Import And Export Prices

The Australian dollar advanced in Asian morning deals on Thursday as better-than-forecast building approvals for September and import and export prices for the third quarter raised speculation that the Reserve Bank of Australia would hold interest rates in the near future.

The data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics said that Australia's export prices rose 4.2 percent in the third quarter of 2013 compared to the previous three months.

That beat forecasts for an increase of 3.3 percent following the 0.3 percent decline in the second quarter.

Import prices climbed 6.1 percent on quarter in Q3 versus forecasts for an increase of 3.5 percent following the 0.3 percent contraction in Q2

Separate data showed that Australia's building approvals jumped a seasonally adjusted 14.4 percent in September compared to the previous month, standing at 16,318.

That shattered forecasts for a gain of 2.8 percent following the upwardly revised 1.6 percent decline in August.

The RBA will hold monetary policy meeting next week. Economists predict the central bank to maintain interest rates at record low at 2.50 percent in the meeting.

The aussie reached as high as 0.9508 against the greenback, recovering from Wednesday's fresh 2-week low of 0.9442. The aussie is likely to break resistance around the 0.96 area.

The aussie added 0.6 percent to 1.1515 against the NZ dollar, reversing from 6-day low of 1.1449 set yesterday. If the aussie rises further, it may face resistance at the 1.16 zone.

The aussie hit a 2-day high of 0.9962 against the Canadian dollar, up by 0.6 percent from yesterday's closing quote of 0.9901. The next probable resistance for the aussie is seen at the 1.005 area.

The aussie, which finished yesterday's deals at 93.43 against the yen, climbed to a 3-day high of 93.61 after these reports. Further bullish trend may lead the aussie to target resistance at the 95.00 zone.

The aussie advanced to 1.4445 against the European single currency, after having fallen to a multi-week low of 1.4531 on Tuesday. The aussie may probably face resistance at the 1.43 level.

Looking ahead, the Bank of Japan's interest rate decision is due shortly. Economists expect the central bank to retain the interest rate at 0.10 percent.

At 1:00 am ET, Japan housing starts data for September is due.

In the European session, German Gfk consumer confidence index for November, retail sales and import price index for September, Eurozone flash consumer price inflation for October and unemployment rate for September are set for release.

Canada GDP data for August and the U.S. weekly jobless claims for the week ended October 26 are slated for release in the New York session.