Forex - Aussie weaker ahead of RBA financial stability report, Kiwi off

Investing.com - The Australian dollar traded weaker in Asia on Wednesday as investors looked ahead to a central bank review on the economy.

AUD/USD traded at 0.7870, down 0.11%, while USD/JPY changed hands at 119.73, down 0.02% and EUR/USD was quoted at 1.0912, down 0.11%.

New Zealand released February trade data that showed a month-on-month surplus of NZ$50 million, well below the expected NZ$392 million.

NZD/USD traded at 0.7630, down 0.30%.

In Australia, the RBA's financial stability review is due at 1130 Sydney (0030 GMT). The market will be looking for the RBA's views on the housing and commercial property markets.

Overnight, the dollar turned broadly higher against a basket of other major currencies on Tuesday, after upbeat U.S. consumer price inflation and new home sales data fuelled fresh optimism over the strength of the economy.

The dollar strengthened after data showed that U.S. consumer prices rose 0.2% in February, in line with market expectations, rebounding after a 0.7% decline in January.

Core inflation, which excludes food and energy costs ticked up 0.2% in February after a similar gain in January. Core inflation was up 1.7% from the same month last year, the largest increase since November.

The uptick in underlying inflation indicated that the Fed would still have leeway to tighten monetary policy even with inflation running below target.

A separate report showed that U.S. new home sales jumped 7.8% to an annual unit rate of 539,000 last month, the highest level since February 2008, the Commerce Department said.

In addition, the preliminary reading of the U.S. manufacturing purchasing managers' index rose to 55.3 this month, the highest level since October, from 55.1 in February.

The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, was quoted at 97.40, down 0.04% in Asia.

The euro strengthened, after research group Markit earlier said that its composite purchasing managers index, which measures activity in the manufacturing and services sectors, rose to 46-month high of 54.1 in March from 53.3 in February.

Germany’s private sector expanded at the fastest rate in eight months, but growth in France’s private sector eased this month.