Investing.com -- The yen gained in early Asia on Monday ahead of a key manufacturing survey, while the Aussie looked to data on retail sales and home building for direction.
USD/JPY changed hands at 111.31, down 0.08%, while AUD/USD traded at 0.7637, up 0.10%. EUR/USD rose 0.17% to 1.0673.
In Asia a busy data day ahead with the AIG manufacturing index from Australia for March, Japan's Tankan large manufacturers survey for the first quarter and building approvals and retail sales for February from Australia with a 0.5% decline and 0.3% rise expected respectively.
Also on Monday, financial markets in Shanghai will be closed for a holiday and later in the U.S. New York Fed President William Dudley, Philadelphia Fed President Patrick Harker and Richmond Fed President Jeffrey Lacker are all set to speak.
In the week ahead, investors will be looking to Wednesday’s Fed minutes for fresh indications on the timing of the next U.S. rate hike ahead of Friday’s closely watched nonfarm payrolls report and a meeting between Chinese President Xi Jinping and U.s. President Donald Trump in Florida.
The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, was last quoted down 0.03% to 100.42.
Last week, the U.S. dollar ended flat against a basket of the other major currencies on Friday as dovish remarks from a Federal Reserve official along with lackluster U.S. economic data weighed.
For the month, the dollar index fell 0.9% and was down almost 3% in the first quarter amid growing doubts over whether the Trump administration's economic proposals would boost the U.S. economy and allow the Fed to tighten policy more aggressively.
Sentiment on the dollar was hit after New York Fed President William Dudley said Friday the central bank was in no rush to tighten monetary policy.
The remarks came after data showing that U.S. consumer spending ticked up just 0.1% last month. The data indicated that the Fed is likely to stick to its cautious outlook on hiking rates. Higher rates typically support the dollar by making U.S. assets more attractive to yield-seeking investors.