Forex - Yen weaker with wage data delayed on calculation issue, AUD down

Investing.com - The yen weakened against the dollar on Tuesday after initial wages data was delayed because of a calculation issue, while the Aussie trended weaker.

USD/JPY changed hands at 120.16, up 0.05%, while AUD/USD traded at 0.7649, down 0.07%. EUR/USD traded at 1.0832, down 0.01%.

In Australia, February private sector credit reported from the central bank rose 0.5%, matching expectations. Housing loans rose 0.5% month-on-month.

The private sector credit data show low interest rates are having the desired effect on business and housing loans, but the effect on other personal credit remains muted.

Japan's Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare has delayed Tuesday's release of February wages data at least for a few days to fix an error found in the statistical revision of the most recent and historical data, a ministry official said.

"We found a mismatch between the indexes and their year-on-year changes when we tried to smooth out the gap in data between the new sample of surveyed firms and the previous one," he said. "We are still looking into what caused it - whether it was a human error or a computer program glitch."

The ministry has not set the new release date for preliminary February and revised January wages data, which were originally scheduled for release at 1030 JST (0130 GMT) Tuesday, but the delay will not affect the release of revised February data on April 17 and preliminary March data on May 1, said the official.

The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, was quoted at 98.24 in Asia on Tuesday, down 0.06%.

Overnight, the dollar remained broadly higher against a basket of other major currencies on Monday, after the release of positive U.S. economic reports and as comments by Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen on Friday continued to support.

In a report, the U.S. National Association of Realtors said pending home sales rose 3.1% last month, easily surpassing expectations for a 0.4% gain. Pending home sales rose by 1.2% in January, whose figure was revised down from a previously reported gain of 1.7%.

The data came after the U.S. Commerce Department said that personal spending inched up 0.1% last month, below expectations for a gain of 0.2%. Personal spending dropped 0.2% in January.

The report also showed personal income rose 0.4% in February, above forecasts for a 0.3% increase and after gaining 0.4% in January.

On Friday, Fed Chair Janet Yellen said in a speech on Friday that a rate hike may be warranted later this year, but added that weakening inflation pressures could force the Fed to delay.

The euro shrugged off official data showing that German consumer price inflation accelerated at an annualized rate of 0.3% this month, meeting forecasts and compared to a reading of 0.1% in February.

Another report showed that consumer prices in Spain fell 0.7% this month, compared to expectations for a decline of 1.0%, after a 1.1% decline in February.

Meanwhile, Greece remained in focus after Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras’ government put forward new reform plans for approval late Friday, as part of a bailout extension review.

Officials from the European Union, the International Monetary Fund and the European Central Bank were to examine the measures after earlier proposals were not accepted.