Investing.com - The Aussie was weaker in early Asia on Wednesday ahead of remarks from a central bank official and the looming Federal Reserve review on interest rates.
Reserve Bank of Australia Assistant Governor Guy Debelle is due to speak at a banking seminar in Sydney at 0930 (2330 GMT) on the topic "Bond Market Liquidity, Long Term Rates and China."
Then at 1030 (0030 GMT), there's the August Westpac-MI Leading Index. In July the index continued to show loss of growth momentum and according to Westpac, the August index could see another lurch lower with most components of the index pointing to fall.
AUD/USD traded at 0.7130, down 0.15%, while USD/JPY changed hands at 120.38, down 0.03%.
The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, was up 0.01% at 95.77.
Overnight, the dollar held modest gains against against the other major currencies on Tuesday, despite the release of downbeat U.S. data, as investors continued to focus on the Federal Reserve's upcoming policy statement on Thursday.
The greenback showed little reaction to data showing that U.S. retail sales rose 0.2% in August, compared to expectations for an increase of 0.3%, Retail sales gained 0.7% in July, whose figure was revised from a previously estimated 0.6% uptick.
Core retail sales, which exclude automobiles, added 0.1% last month, confounding expectations for a 0.2% rise. Core retail sales increased by 0.6% in July, whose figure was revised from a previously estimated 0.4% gain.
Separately, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York said its Empire State manufacturing index improved to minus 14.67 this month from minus 14.92 in August, compared to expectations for a reading of minus 0.75.
Data also showed that U.S. industrial production fell 0.4% in August, compared to expectations for a 0.2% downtick. Industrial production increased by 0.9% in July, whose figure wad revised from a previously estimated 0.6% gain.
Sentiment on the dollar remained vulnerable amid concerns that mixed U.S. economic reports and recent volatility in global financial markets will prompt the U.S. central bank to refrain from hiking interest rates on Thursday.