The Australian dollar climbed to a fresh record high against the euro in early Asian trading on Thursday as investors bought high-yielding assets in response to positive U.S. economic data and strong corporate earnings from U.S. companies.

The U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke's commitment to take new steps to support the economy if necessary also helped to lift sentiment in Asia, with the Australian dollar strengthening to fresh multi-month highs against the U.S. and Canadian dollars.

The Commerce Department report showed on Wednesday that the U.S. housing starts jumped 6.9 percent to an annual rate of 760,000 in June from the revised May estimate of 711,000. Economists had expected housing starts to climb to 745,000 from the 708,000 originally reported for the previous month.

Meanwhile, the Fed's Beige Book report said overall economic activity continued to expand at a modest to moderate pace in June and early July.

The report also said employment levels grew at a tepid pace since the last report and noted that price inflation was modest across most areas of the country. Looking ahead, the Fed said contacts remained cautiously optimistic about future business conditions.

The rally in Australian came this week after the release of minutes from the Reserve Bank of Australia's meeting earlier this month, where policy makers said they "saw no need" for more interest-rate cuts and that Australia's economy had more momentum than expected.

The Australian dollar is often attractive to investors because Australia is one of the few remaining triple A rated sovereigns. The country's central bank has also set its benchmark interest rate at 3.5 percent, while most other major economies, including the U.S., euro-zone and Japan, are below 1 percent.

The Australian dollar that ended Wednesday's New York session at 1.0365 against the U.S. dollar reached 1.0400 in early Asian deals. This set the highest point for the aussie since May 01, 2012. If the aussie-greenback pair gains further, it will target the 1.046 level.

The Australian dollar has been broadly gaining against the greenback after it touched an 8-month low of 0.9585 in early June. Thus far, the aussie-greenback pair has appreciated more than 8 percent.

Against the European single currency, the Australian dollar strengthened to a fresh record high of 1.1829, compared to Wednesday's close of 1.1855.

The common currency was weaker across the board yesterday after German Chancellor Angela Merkel expressed doubts about the future of the "European project."

After hitting a 5-month low of 1.3036 against the euro on May 18, the Australian dollar began rising steadily and has gained 9.2 percent thus far.

The Australian dollar climbed to a fresh 4-month high of 1.0497 against the Canadian dollar. The next upside target level for the aussie is seen at 1.055. The pair ended yesterday's trading at 1.0474.

Thus far, the Australian dollar has advanced 5.4 percent against the loonie from a 7- 1/2 -month low of 0.9960 hit on May 23.

Meanwhile, the Australian dollar that rose to an 8-day high of 81.79 against the Japanese yen at 8:15 pm ET eased thereafter. The aussie-yen pair is currently trading near Thursday's close of 81. 69.

Looking ahead, Japan's all industry activity index and final leading and coincident indexes - all for May are due shortly.

In the European session, Swiss trade data for June, Eurozone current account for May and the U.K. retail sales for June are slated for release.

Across the Atlantic, Canada's wholesale sales for May, U.S. weekly jobless claims report for the week ended July 13th, existing home sales for June, results of the Philadelphia Federal Reserve's manufacturing survey for July and leading economic indicators index for June are expected in the New York morning session.