Investing.com - The Aussie gave up most early gains on Tuesday after building and housing data that showed a continued negative trend though above expectations and ahead of a central bank review of interest rates with investors expecting a steady outcome.
AUD/USD traded at 0.7680, up 0.03%, while USD/JPY changed hands at 102.03 up 0.38% as the Bank of Japan released Tankan survey results. GBP/USD traded at 1.2845, up 0.07%.
The Reserve Bank of Australia will release its first review of the cash rate under new Governor Philip Lowe with the record low level of 1.50% seen maintained. As well building approvals for August fell 1.8%, less than the 7.0% drop seen month-on-month and private house approvals dipped 1.3%, compared with a revised upward 0.1% decline in the previous month.
Earlier, in New Zealand, the NZIER business confidence survey for the third quarter came in at 26%, compared to 19% previously while capacity utilization was 92.5% from 92.9%. NZD/USD traded at 0.7290, up 0.18% after the survey was released.
The Bank of Japan on Tuesday released inflation-outlook data measured in the consumer price index (excluding the effect of tax changes) among companies polled in its quarterly Tankan survey with the data indicating many companies remain skeptical that of reaching and sustaining 2% inflation during Governor Haruhiko Kuroda's five-year term that ends in April 2018 even with the bank's aggressive easing launched in April 2013, followed by an expanded effort in October 2014, and refocused on the yield curve last month.
Japanese companies expect consumer prices to rise an average 0.6% a year from now, compared to a 0.7% gain seen in the second quarter.
The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, rose 0.07% to 95.72.
Overnight, the dollar pushed higher against the other major currencies on Monday, after data showing that U.S. manufacturing activity returned to expansion in September boosted optimism over the strength of the economy.
The greenback strengthened after the Institute for Supply Management said its index of manufacturing activity rose to 51.5 last month from August’s reading of 49.4. Analysts had forecast a lesser increase to 50.3.
The reports added to hopes for a U.S. rate hike before the end of the year following upbeat U.S. consumer sentiment data released on Friday. Investing.com's Fed Rate Monitor Tool shows investors estimate a 10.3% chance of a rate hike in November, and a 61.6% figure for December.
Investors remained cautious after U.K. Prime Minister Theresa May said on Sunday that she would trigger the process of leaving the European Union by the end of March.
Triggering Article 50 of the EU's Lisbon Treaty will give Britain a two-year period to clinch one of the most complex deals in Europe since World War Two, and will redefine the country's ties with its biggest trading partner.