Investing.com - The Australian dollar was mostly steady on Tuesday with house price data ahead in an otherwise light regional data day.
AUD/USD traded at 0.7133, up 0.03%, while USD/JPY changed hands at 120.49, down 0.05%.
In Australia, the only key data release scheduled is the second quarter house price index, due at 1130 Sydney time (0130 GMT) and expected to show a 2.5% quarter-on-quarter rise.
The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, was up 0.02% at 96.06.
Overnight, the dollar extended gains against against the other major currencies in quiet trade on Monday, despite the release of weak U.S. housing report as the greenback continued to recover from the Federal Reserve's decision to hold interest rates this month.
In a report, the U.S. National Association of Realtors said that existing home sales declined 4.8% to 5.31 million units last month from 5.58 million in July. Analysts had expected existing home sales to fall 1.3% to 5.51 million units in August.
The greenback regained strength after the U.S. central bank left short-term interest rates unchanged last Thursday, amid concerns over soft inflation and the effects of recent market volatility on the U.S. economy.
The Fed said it wanted to see "some further improvement in the labor market," and be "reasonably confident" that inflation will increase before hiking rates.
While the decision was not completely unexpected the Fed’s concerns over the uncertain outlook for global growth rattled financial markets and pressured the dollar lower.
The euro came under pressure after European Central Bank Chief Economist Peter Praet reiterated Saturday that the bank is prepared to enlarge its monetary stimulus program if necessary to combat risks from global economic turbulence.
Earlier this month the ECB cut its forecasts for growth and inflation and indicated that its trillion-euro bond-buying program could be scaled up.