The Aussie fell in Asia in Tuesday trade, as the Reserve Bank of Australia held interest rates steady at 1.50%. The central bank held rates steady due to the currency remaining strong in recent weeks. The AUD/USD lost ground on Tuesday, falling 0.29% to trade at 0.7656.
Australia’s building and housing data points to a slowing industry that is in negative territory, but the data was better than expected.
Building approvals in Australia fell 1.8% in August. Private house approvals fell just 1.3% on the month. The declines were less than expected after a month-on-month dip of 7.0%.
The Bank of Japan released their consumer price index data, which included inflation-outlook figures. The Bank of Japan’s release suggests that companies are skeptical of reaching the 2% inflation rate before April 2018. Aggressive easing from the Bank of Japan has done little to ease fears of continuing inflation pitfalls.
Companies polled by the Bank of Japan expect consumer prices to rise 0.6% over the next year.
USD/JPY is trading up 0.89% on the release to trade at 102.54.
The greenback continues to strengthen as data out of the United States continues to point to a rate hike in the near future. The dollar strengthened as manufacturing activity expanded in September. The data from the Institute of Supply Management suggests that the index rose to 51.5 in September. In August, the figure reached 49.4. Forecasts put the activity increasing to 50.3.
The Federal Reserve continues to mull over the possibility of a rate hike before the end of the year. Consumer sentiment data released last week showed a 61% chance of a rate hike in December.
The British pound continued to struggle on Tuesday following the announcement that the U.K. will invoke Article 50 in 2017 to officially leave the European Union. GBP/USD is down 0.51% to trade at 1.2771. The figure represents a 31-year low for the pairing.
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