Investing.com - The Aussie was last quoted slightly down in Asia on Friday ahead of a a China data slate of GDP, industrial production and retail sales.
AUD/USD traded at 0.7679, down 0.01% with the country's fortunes closely linked to trade with China, while USD/JPY was quoted at 109.42, down 0.02%.
In Asia, the Reserve Bank of Australia releases its Financial Stability Review. Later, China details first quarter GDP with a 6.7% gain seen year-on-year and a 1.5% rise quarter-on-quarter.
As well, in China comes industrial production for March with a 5.9% gain seen year-on-year and retail sales with a jump of 10.4% expected year-on-year.
The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, was last quoted at 94.94.
Overnight, the dollar moved back up toward two-and-a-half week highs against the other major currencies on Thursday, as invesrtors shrugged off mixed U.S. economic reports.
The U.S. Department of Labor said the number of individuals filing for initial jobless benefits in the week ending April 9 decreased by 13,000 to 253,000 from the previous week’s total of 266,000 which was revised down from 267,000. Analysts had expected jobless claims to rise by 3,000 to 270,000 last week.
A separate report showed that the U.S. consumer price index rose 0.1% in March, disappointing expectations for a 0.2% gain, after a 0.2% slip the previous month. Year-on-year, consumer prices rose 0.9% last month, confounding expectations for an increase of 1.0%.
Core CPI, which excludes food and energy, rose 0.1% in March, compared to expectations for a 0.2% increase and after a 0.3% gain the previous month.