Investing.com - The Australian dollar fell to three-week lows against its U.S. counterpart on Tuesday, weighed by the release of disappointing business confidence data from Australia and as expectations for a U.S. rate hike continued to boost the greenback.
AUD/USD hit 0.9251 during late Asian trade, the pair's lowest since August 21; the pair subsequently consolidated at 0.9271, slipping 0.12%.
The pair was likely to find support at 0.9238, the low of August 21 and resistance at 0.9311, the high of August 21.
In a report, the National Australia Bank said its business confidence index fell to 8 last month, from a reading of 11 in July.
Data also showed that home loans in Australia rose 0.3% in July, disappointing expectations for an increase of 1.0%. June's figure was revised to a 0.1% gain from a previously estimated 0.2% rise.
Meanwhile, the greenback found further support after a study by the San Francisco Federal Reserve published on Monday indicated that Fed officials see rates rising earlier than markets expect.
The U.S. dollar has strengthened in recent weeks amid expectations that the Fed may announce a rate increase earlier than expected after economic data indicated that the recovery in the U.S. is progressing strongly.
The Aussie was lower against the euro, with EUR/AUD edging up 0.10% to 1.3905.