Australian dollar nearly flat in Asia on consumer sentiment and Greek crisis

On Wednesday the Aussie dollar traded nearly flat in Asia on a mix of upbeat housing data and consumer sentiment but as investors focused on Greece, and China data ahead.

AUD/USD changed hands at 0.7772, up 0.02%, while USD/JPY traded at 119.66, up 0.19%. EUR/USD traded at 1.1320, flat.

Late Tuesday Greece's Parliament approved the government's economic plan that sets up a showdown with country's international creditors beginning this week in Brussels. Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras earned approval for a plan that rolls back many of the austerity measures agreed by the former government of Antonis Samaras.

The euro has been under pressure.

On Tuesday Japanese markets are closed for a public holiday.

Meanwhile, more Chinese data releases are expected to generate interest today. China's January new loans, money supply and total social financing data are due, but there is no fixed time. New loans are expected to have nearly doubled in January to 1.35 trillion yuan. Total social financing - the PBOC's broadest public measure of funding activity in the financial system - may have hit 2.1 trillion yuan, up from December's 1.69 trillion yuan.

Meanwhile in Australia, the Westpac-MI Consumer Sentiment survey rose 8.0 points to 100.7, the first time above 100 since February 2014 and expected after an RBA cash rate cut last week which was passed in full to mortgage-holders by banks, and the fall in petrol prices.

Housing finance data showed a gain of 2.7% month-on-month in December, better than the 2.0% rise expected.

The greenback gained overnight against its peers, as concerns over a potential Greek exit from the euro zone continued to dominate market sentiment.

Also Tuesday, official data showed that China’s consumer price index rose by an annualized 0.8% in January. It was the weakest reading since November 2009, adding to pressure on Beijing to step up measures to bolster growth in the world’s second-largest economy.