Investing.com - The Australian dollar held gains on Friday after a private survey from AI Group and the Housing Industry Association showed a second straight month of momentum in the performance of construction index.
AUD/USD traded at 0.9068, up 0.07%. Its antipodean neighbor weakened slightly with NZD/USD hovering at 0.8216, down 0.01%.
The performance of construction index for November rose 0.8 points to 55.2 led by gains in new orders. The new orders sub-index rose to 58.5, the highest since January 2006, as the effect of Reserve Bank of Australia cash rate cuts since November 2011 to a record low 2.5% become evident.
"The fact that growth was reported in each of the four sub-sectors is particularly encouraging and adds to the signs that the long-awaited re-balancing of the domestic economy may be getting underway on the back of low interest rates and a lift in business and household confidence," AI Group's director of public policy Peter Burn said.
"However, given the extent of the slump in residential and commercial construction over more than three years, the expansions recorded in October and November are from a low base and we are still some months from a convincing recovery."
USD/JPY traded flat at 101.80, with the market awaiting U.S. November jobs data in the United States. The leading indices data for October is due at 1400 local time (0500 GMT with a reading of 109.9 forecast, along with initial trade data for the first 20 days of November at 0850 local time (2350 GMT).
Overnight, the dollar traded largely lower against most major currencies, buoyed in part by strong growth and jobless claims data in the U.S. though pushed down due to a European Central Bank decision to forgo rolling out negative interest rates.
EUR/USD was up 0.05% at 1.3673 in Asia.
The ECB announced earlier it was its holding benchmark interest rate at 0.25%, as expected.
European Central Bank President Mario Draghi said monetary policy will remain accommodative for as long as necessary and added that interest rates are likely to remain at current or lower levels for an extended period of time.
Still, Draghi gave no indication over whether or not the ECB will introduce negative interest rates, which sent the euro rising at the greenback's expense.
Better-than-expected growth and jobs data out of the U.S. bolstered the dollar against other currencies, however, profit taking ahead of the release of the November jobs and unemployment report on Friday softened the greenback.
U.S. gross domestic product increased at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 3.6% in the three months to September, well above expectations for 3.0% growth and up from a preliminary estimate of 2.8%, according to Commerce Department data released earlier.
Separately, the U.S. Department of Labor said the number of individuals filing initial jobless claims last week fell by 23,000 to a seasonally adjusted 298,000 from 321,000 in the previous week, whose figure was revised up from 316,000.
Analysts had expected initial jobless claims to rise to 325,000 last week.
Government data also showed that U.S. factory orders fell 0.9% in October, less than an expected 1% decline after an upwardly revised 1.8% increase the previous month.
The greenback was up against the pound, with GBP/USD down 0.31% at 1.6333.
Earlier in the day, the Bank of England's monetary policy committee voted to leave rates on hold at 0.5% and made no changes to its GBP375 billion quantitative easing stimulus package.
The U.S. dollar index, which tracks the performance of the greenback versus a basket of six other major currencies, was up 0.01% at 80.29.
On Friday, markets will move on the release of the U.S. November jobs report and also on the Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan preliminary consumer sentiment index.
AUD/USD traded at 0.9068, up 0.07%. Its antipodean neighbor weakened slightly with NZD/USD hovering at 0.8216, down 0.01%.
The performance of construction index for November rose 0.8 points to 55.2 led by gains in new orders. The new orders sub-index rose to 58.5, the highest since January 2006, as the effect of Reserve Bank of Australia cash rate cuts since November 2011 to a record low 2.5% become evident.
"The fact that growth was reported in each of the four sub-sectors is particularly encouraging and adds to the signs that the long-awaited re-balancing of the domestic economy may be getting underway on the back of low interest rates and a lift in business and household confidence," AI Group's director of public policy Peter Burn said.
"However, given the extent of the slump in residential and commercial construction over more than three years, the expansions recorded in October and November are from a low base and we are still some months from a convincing recovery."
USD/JPY traded flat at 101.80, with the market awaiting U.S. November jobs data in the United States. The leading indices data for October is due at 1400 local time (0500 GMT with a reading of 109.9 forecast, along with initial trade data for the first 20 days of November at 0850 local time (2350 GMT).
Overnight, the dollar traded largely lower against most major currencies, buoyed in part by strong growth and jobless claims data in the U.S. though pushed down due to a European Central Bank decision to forgo rolling out negative interest rates.
EUR/USD was up 0.05% at 1.3673 in Asia.
The ECB announced earlier it was its holding benchmark interest rate at 0.25%, as expected.
European Central Bank President Mario Draghi said monetary policy will remain accommodative for as long as necessary and added that interest rates are likely to remain at current or lower levels for an extended period of time.
Still, Draghi gave no indication over whether or not the ECB will introduce negative interest rates, which sent the euro rising at the greenback's expense.
Better-than-expected growth and jobs data out of the U.S. bolstered the dollar against other currencies, however, profit taking ahead of the release of the November jobs and unemployment report on Friday softened the greenback.
U.S. gross domestic product increased at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 3.6% in the three months to September, well above expectations for 3.0% growth and up from a preliminary estimate of 2.8%, according to Commerce Department data released earlier.
Separately, the U.S. Department of Labor said the number of individuals filing initial jobless claims last week fell by 23,000 to a seasonally adjusted 298,000 from 321,000 in the previous week, whose figure was revised up from 316,000.
Analysts had expected initial jobless claims to rise to 325,000 last week.
Government data also showed that U.S. factory orders fell 0.9% in October, less than an expected 1% decline after an upwardly revised 1.8% increase the previous month.
The greenback was up against the pound, with GBP/USD down 0.31% at 1.6333.
Earlier in the day, the Bank of England's monetary policy committee voted to leave rates on hold at 0.5% and made no changes to its GBP375 billion quantitative easing stimulus package.
The U.S. dollar index, which tracks the performance of the greenback versus a basket of six other major currencies, was up 0.01% at 80.29.
On Friday, markets will move on the release of the U.S. November jobs report and also on the Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan preliminary consumer sentiment index.