Forex - AUD/USD drops to 11-month lows on weak Chinese data

The Australian dollar dropped to 11-month lows against its U.S. counterpart on Thursday, after weak manufacturing data from China sparked fresh concerns over the outlook for global economic growth. 

AUD/USD hit 0.9614 during late Asian trade, the pair's lowest since June 1, 2012; the pair subsequently consolidated at 0.9607, retreating 0.95%.

The pair was likely to find support at 0.9583, the low of June 1, 2012 and resistance at 0.9703, the session high. 

The Aussie weakened after the preliminary reading of China’s HSBC manufacturing purchasing managers' index fell to 49.6 in May, below the 50 level that separates contraction from growth down from a final reading of 50.4 in April. 

China is Australia's biggest export partner. 

In Australia, the Melbourne Institute said its inflation expectations rose to 2.3% in April, from 2.2% the previous month. 

Meanwhile, the greenback remained supported after Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said on Wednesday that a decision to scale back the central bank's asset purchase program could be taken in the "next few meetings" depending on economic data. 

The Aussie was also lower against the euro with EUR/AUD climbing 0.74%, to hit 1.3353. 

Later in the day, the U.S. was to release the weekly government report on initial jobless claims and official data on new home sales.