Investing.com - The Aussie reversed course and fell after disappointing housing data and a weak business sentiment reading from NAB on Tuesday as the market stayed cautious ahead of the start of a two-day Fed meeting widely expected to produce a rate hike of a quarter point.
Australia reported the third quarter house price index fell 0.2%, compared with a 0.6% rise seen, while NAB released its business confidence with a reading of 6, down from 8 and its business survey with a reading of 12, down from 21 for November.
Earlier, Japan said producer prices rose a more than expected 0.4% in November on month and a 3.5% pace on year.
AUD/USD traded at 0.7522, down 0.07%, while USD/JPY changed hands at 113.55, down 0.01%.
The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, was last quoted up 0.11% to 93.94.
Overnight, the dollar was mostly unchanged against a basket of major currencies on Monday after data showed US employers posted fewer job openings than expected in October, pointing to signs of possible weakness in the labor market.
The U.S. Labor Department's latest Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTs) report, a measure of labor demand, showed job openings in October cooled to about 6 million, missing expectations of 6.03 million.
The subdued report comes as investors continued to mull over last Friday’s November nonfarm payrolls showing wage growth remained stagnant, despite an uptick in the number of jobs created.
Also weighing on the dollar was an uptick in the safe-haven currencies like the yen and Swiss franc after an explosion in New York weighed on risk sentiment.