Australian Dollar Advances On Rising Risk Appetite

The Australian dollar strengthened against its most major counterparts in the Asian session on Friday amid rising risk appetite, as most Asian shares rose following the record highs overnight on Wall Street amid optimism over the likely signing of a phase one U.S.-China trade deal in January and as online retail giant Amazon.com said the holiday season was "record-breaking".

Investors digested China's statement that it was in close contact with the U.S. on signing the initial trade pact.

That came after U.S. President Donald Trump signaled a signing ceremony with Chinese leader Xi Jinping for the Phase 1 trade deal.

The aussie advanced to 0.6955 against the greenback, its biggest since July 22. The aussie is seen finding resistance around the 0.71 level.

The aussie edged up to 76.15 against the yen, from a low of 76.03 hit at 7:45 pm ET. If the aussie strengthens further, 79.00 is likely seen as its next resistance level.

Bouncing off from an 8-day low of 1.0401 set at 7:45 pm ET, the aussie gained to 1.0420 against the kiwi. The aussie is poised to challenge resistance around the 1.07 mark.

In contrast, the aussie pulled back to 0.9105 against the loonie and 1.6001 against the euro, from its early high of 0.9116 and a 3-1/2-month high of 1.5968, respectively. The aussie is likely to locate support around 0.90 against the loonie and 1.62 against the euro.

Looking ahead, Swiss economic sentiment index for December and U.K. mortgage approvals for November are due out in the European session.