Investing.com - The Australian dollar eased and the euro fell slightly in Asia Thursday as investors looked ahead to the timing of a likely Federal Reserve rate hike this year as Greece passed a key austerity bill late on Wednesday in a fiery session of parliament.
AUD/USD traded at 0.7376, down 0.05%, while USD/JPY changed hands at 123.81, up 0.04%. EUR/USD traded at 1.0934, down 0.15%.
In New Zealand, second quarter consumer prices rose 0.4% quarter-on-quarter, well below the 0.6% gain seen and the annual clip came in at a gain of 0.3%, below the 0.4% increase expected.
The outcome is in line with Reserve Bank expectations, though since the last monetary-policy statement the exchange rate has fallen on a trade-weighted basis and is now nearly 7% below where the RBNZ forecast for the current quarter. That hasn't affected the latest CPI figures but will flow through into the next quarter. The Reserve Bank will review the official cash rate July 23 and expectations are for a cut of 25 basis points to 3.0%.
MI Australia inflation expectations see consumer prices at a weighted-mean 2.6% in June compared to 2.3% in the previous survey.
The weighted-mean measure includes inflation expectations between zero and 5% and is closer to the RBA band of 2% to 3%. A rise in expectations is surprising, but are near expectations for inflation to remain within the target band.
The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, rose 0.09% to 97.38.
Overnight, the dollar remained broadly higher against a basket of other major currencies on Wednesday, after Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen said the central bank is on track to raise interest rates "before year end."
In prepared remarks released before her testimony to the House Financial Services committee, Fed Chair Yellen said that the Fed is likely to raise rates "at some point this year." She added that the U.S. labor market healthier but "still some slack."
According to Yellen, the Greek debt crisis, as well as China's recent economic woes, "pose some risks" to U.S. growth.
At the same time, data showed that the Empire State Manufacturing Index rose to 3.86 this month from minus 1.98 the previous month, compared to expectations for a reading of 3.00.
A separate report showed that U.S. producer prices rose 0.4% in June, beating expectations for a 0.2% gain. Year-on-year, producer prices fell 0.7% in July, less than the expected 0.9% decline.
Greece's government on Tuesday submitted the bailout terms demanded by eurozone creditors to parliament and as Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras battled for support for the reforms from his ruling anti-austerity Syriza party.