Investing.com - The Aussie held slightly weaker in Asia on Tuesday after China consumer prices came in weaker than expected.
In China, consumer prices for October rose 1.3% year-on-year, below the 1.5% gain expected, while producer prices eased 5.9%, less than the 5.9% fall seen.
AUD/USD traded at 0.7047, down 0.01%, while USD/JPY changed hands at 123.22, up 0.04%, after data that showed the adjusted current account narrowed to ¥780 billion from ¥1.59 trillion and bank lending rose 2.5%, less than the 2.6% gain seen.
Earlier in Australia, home loans in September rose 2.0%, better than the 0.1% gain seen while a NAB survey saw business confidence dip to plus-2 in October from plus-5 the previous month and conditions steady at plus-9.
The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, was down 0.02% at 99.11.
Overnight, the dollar trimmed losses against the other major currencies on Monday, and continued to hover near seven-month highs as Friday's strong U.S. employment data continued to lend broad support to the greenback.
The greenback strengthened broadly after the Labor Department reported that the U.S. economy added 271,000 jobs last month, well ahead of the 180,000 expected by economists and the largest increase since December.
The unemployment rate fell to a seven-and-a-half year low of 5.0%.
The robust data paved the way for the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates at its December meeting, a move that would make the dollar more attractive to yield-seeking investors.
The jobs data came after Fed Chair Janet Yellen said that the U.S. economy was performing well, and that December would represent a “live possibility” for raising interest rates if economic data supported it.
The euro weakened after Reuters reported that the European Central Bank could cut its deposit rate deeper into negative territory at its December meeting.
Separately, the Eurogroup of finance ministers were holding talks in Brussels to discuss the condition of the euro zone economy and Greece’s bailout.
Ahead of the talks Eurogroup head Jeroen Dijsselbloem said progress has been made in recent weeks regarding Greece’s banks and reform programs. But he added that more work must be done in the next two weeks before Athens can receive its next 2 billion tranche of aid.