Investing.com - The Australian dollar fell on Thursday in Asia after downbeat capital spending data for privaet new capital.
AUD/USD traded at 0.7233, down 0.26%, while NZD/USD changed hands at 0.6584, up 0.09%, reversing an earlier decline after trade data. USD/JPY traded at 122.60, down 0.12%.
In Australia capital expenditure data for the third quarter with private new capital expenditure plunged 9.2%, compared to a 3.0% drop seen.
Earlier, in New Zealand, the trade balance for October showed a deficit of NZ$963 million month-on-month and NZ$3.24 billion year-on-year, both slightly better than expected.
The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, fell 0.02% to 99.81.
Overnight, the U.S. dollar rallied to a fresh eight-month high against a basket of six other major currencies on Wednesday, after a deluge of mostly upbeat U.S. economic data reinforced the case for a Fed rate hike next month.
The U.S. Commerce Department reported on Wednesday that new home sales rose by 10.7% to 495,000 units last month.
The report came shortly after the U.S. Department of Labor said first time jobless claims declined by 12,000 last week to 260,000 from the previous week’s revised total of 272,000. Analysts expected jobless claims to fall by 2,000 last week.
A separate report showed that durable goods orders jumped 3.0% in October, easily surpassing forecasts for 1.5%. Core durable goods orders, excluding volatile transportation items, rose 0.5%, beating expectations for an increase of 0.3%.
The upbeat data added to already growing expectations the Federal Reserve will raise rates for the first time in nearly a decade at its December 15-16 meeting.
Most Fed officials believe there is a strong case to begin raising interest rates next month, as long as U.S. economic data does not disappoint in the coming weeks.
Meanwhile, the euro sank to a fresh seven-month low after Reuters reported that the European Central Bank is looking at broadening the scope of its bond-buying program or implementing a two-tier penalty charge on banks that leave cash with the ECB.
U.S. markets will be closed Thursday for the Thanksgiving holiday and Friday will be a half day, resulting in thin liquidity conditions.