Investing.com - The Aussie drifted weaker on Tuesday in Asia ahead of a closely-watched business survey and trade data out of China as markets gear up for U.S. election results slated to arrive early in the start of the Asian trading day on Wednesday.
AUD/USD traded at 0.7721, down 0.09%, while USD/JPY changed hands at 104.54, up 0.07%.
In Australia, NAB business confidence is due for October with a previous reading of plus-6, as well as the NAB business survey with a previous reading of plus-8. In China, the trade balance for October is expected to show a surplus of $51.7 billion with exports seen down 6.0% year-on-year and imports showing a 1.0% decline.
The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, was last quoted at 97.78.
Overnight, the dollar pushed higher against the other majors currencies on Monday, as the growing opinion that Hillary Clinton could win the upcoming presidential election continued to boost demand for the greenback.
The dollar gained ground as hopes for a Clinton win mounted after the FBI informed Congress over the weekend that it had "not changed its conclusions" on the private email server maintained by the Democratic candidate.
The greenback also remained supported after the Labor Department said on Friday that the U.S. economy added 161,000 jobs in October from the prior month and that the unemployment rate ticked down to 4.9%.
The data supported expectations for a December rate hike by the Federal Reserve.
In the euro zone, data earlier showed that German factory orders fell 0.6% in September, confounding expectations for a 0.3% rise. Factory orders increased 0.9% in August, whose figure was revised from a previously estimated 1.0% climb.