Investing.com - The Australian dollar gained in early Asia on Monday ahead of housing finance data and a slate of releases on prices from China
AUD/USD traded at 0.8639, up 0.07%, while USD/JPY changed hands at 114.50, down 0.08%.
Australia's September housing finance is due at 1130 Sydney time (0030 GMT). The forecast is for a 0.3% month-on-month fall.
Then China's October PPI and CPI data kickstart the week's data deluge of China at 0930 local time (0130 GMT). Economists forecast consumer inflation to have held steady in October over September at 1.6% year-on-year. Producer price deflation likely worsened in October, economists believe, falling back to levels not seen since April at minus 2.0% year-on-year.
Official trade data released over the weekend showed that China’s trade surplus widened to $45.4 billion last month from $31.0 billion in September, compared to estimates for a surplus of $42.0 billion.
Chinese exports climbed 11.6% from a year earlier in October, beating expectations for a 10.6% increase, while imports rose 4.6%, compared to forecasts for a gain of 5.5%.
Last week, the dollar fell against the other major currencies on Friday after the latest U.S. nonfarm payrolls fell short of economists’ expectations but still showed solid jobs growth, prompting investors to book profits on the greenback.
The Labor Department reported that the U.S. economy added 214,000 jobs in October, missing expectations for jobs growth of 231,000.
The U.S. unemployment rate ticked down to a fresh six-year low of 5.8% from 5.9% in September.
The data prompted investors to sell the dollar to lock in gains following its recent rally, but did little to alter expectations that the Federal Reserve will raise interest rates ahead of its other major peers.
The US dollar index, which tracks the performance of the greenback against a basket of six major currencies, ended last week down 0.63% to 87.66.
In the week ahead, investors will be looking ahead to Friday’s report on third quarter growth from the euro zone, as well as the latest retail sales figures from the U.S.
Thursday’s inflation report from the Bank of England will also be in focus.
On Monday, Canada is to publish data on housing starts.