Forex - Australian dollar gains on NAB business survey

Investing.com - The Australian dollar gained on Tuesday in Asian trade after a bank survey on business confidence eased slightly in February and conditions fell sharply from near three-year highs seen recently, re-establishing the divergence between confidence and conditions that was seen in late 2013.

AUD/USD traded at 0.9032, up 0.13%, as the data also showed an upward revision to the January survey. National Australian Bank said business confidence in February rose 7 points, down from a rise of 9 points in January. Business conditions were flat from a gain of 5 points, revised up from 4 points, in January.

Markets are also awaiting the latest monetary policy review announcement by the Bank of Japan.

USD/JPY traded at 103.36, up 0.09%, with the Bank of Japan's board meeting deliberations are due to be announced around 1230 Tokyo time (0330 GMT) with the central bank expected to stand pat as the economy appears on track toward a continued modest recovery and sustained 2% inflation.

BOJ Governor Haruhiko Kuroda is due to host a news conference to discuss the board's decision at 1530 (0630 GMT).

Elsewhere in Asia, the People's Bank of China expanded money market operations to scoop even more funds out of the system, and for longer periods of time.

The bank drained CNY100 billion on Tuesday morning via 28-day repos, traders said. It dropped altogether the 14-day instruments that it has been using, suggesting that it wants to slightly extend the length of time that excess market liquidity is frozen.

On Monday the dollar was down against the yen after data revealed the economy grew 0.2% in the final three months of 2013, missing market calls for a 0.3% reading.

On a year-over-year basis, the economy expanded by 0.7%, missing expectations for a 1.0% reading.

The numbers softened the yen earlier though demand from investors fleeing exposure to emerging markets gave the Japanese currency support.

Overnight, the dollar moved higher against most major currencies as markets continued to applaud Friday's better-than-expected February jobs report, while soft Chinese trade figures boosted the greenback as well.

Elsewhere, the euro saw some support on market views that the European Central Bank will hold off on stimulating the economy further.

Last week, the ECB left its benchmark interest rate unchanged at 0.5%, as recent data indicated moderate economic recovery was taking place in the euro zone.

Elsewhere in Europe, investor confidence in the euro zone for March rose to its highest level since April 2011, easing concerns over the outlook for the region’s economy, data showed on Monday.

Market research group Sentix reported earlier that its index of investor confidence improved to 13.9 this month from a reading of 13.3 in February. Analysts were expecting the index to increase to 14.0 in March.

The dollar index, which tracks the performance of the greenback versus a basket of six other major currencies, was up 0.06% at 79.92.