Investing.com - The Australian dollar held weaker Tuesday after retail sales and current account data that showed relative strength, but the market is waiting for the latest monthly review of Australia's cash rate and shrugging off mixed data on China's economy..
Australian with retail sales in April rose 0.2%, matching expectations, while first quarter data for the current account showed a deficit of A$5.7 billion, narrower than the A$7.0 billion deficit expected.
Chinese non-manufacturing PMI for May rose to 55.5, the highest since November, from 54.8. The HSBC Manufacturing PMI May final came in at 49.4, lower than the 49.7 in the "flash" reading, but still above the 48.1 final in April.
But the Reserve Bank of Australia's monthly monetary policy review is due at 1430 Sydney time (0430 GMT) with a stable 2.5% cash rate expected.
AUD/USD traded at 0.9238, down 0.11%.
Earlier in New Zealand, first quarter terms of trade rose 1.8%, below an expected gain of 1.9% expected. NZD/USD traded at 0.8450 after the data, down 0.04%.
Total average monthly cash earnings per regular employee in Japan stood at a preliminary Y274,761 in April, up 0.9% from a year earlier, marking the second straight year-on-year rise.
USD/JPY traded at 102.38, down 0.02%, after the data.
India's Central Bank also holds its review meeting for the first time since the general election brought the opposition BJP to power.
Overnight, the dollar traded higher against most major currencies as investors applauded an upbeat U.S. manufacturing gauge despite two revisions to the index that confused markets, while expectations for the European Central Bank to loosen policy also firmed the greenback.
In the U.S., the Institute of Supply Management reported that its manufacturing purchasing managers' index for May ticked down to 53.2 from 54.9 a month earlier before correcting it two times, once to 56.0 and a second time to 55.4.
While the corrections confused markets, the dollar remained higher, as any figure over 50 signifies expansion.
Elsewhere, the single currency came under pressure on expectations that the European Central Bank will take steps to tackle low inflation rates that are threatening an already fragile recovery in the single currency bloc, including cuts to all interest rates.
The European Central Bank will decide on interest rates and monetary policy on Thursday.
On Tuesday, the U.S. is to produce data on factory orders.
The US Dollar Index, which tracks the performance of the greenback versus a basket of six other major currencies, was down 0.03% at 80.66.