Investing.com - The Aussie weakened on Thursday in Asia after disappointing retail sales, though trade data provided a bright spot.
In Australia, retail sales fell 0.1%, missing an expected 0.4% gain and down for the first time since May last year as food retailing showed no growth and household goods retailing fell for the first time since March. The trade balance for July came in at A$2.460 billion, better than the A$3.1 billion seen and compared to a deficit of A$2.93 billion in June.
Earlier, the August AIGroup services index came in at 55.6, above last month's 54.1 level.
AUD/USD traded at 0.7014, down 0.33%, while USD/JPY changed hands at 120.48, up 0.12%.
In Japan, BoJ board member Takahide Kiuchi said hitting sustained 2% inflation in Japan would be hard via monetary easing alone and he reiterated that massive bond buying by the central bank was distorting prices.
The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, was up 0.09% at 95.98.
Overnight, the dollar pushed higher against against the other major currencies on Wednesday, despite the release of disappointing economic reports from the U.S., as concerns over China's economic outlook began to ease.
Payroll processing firm ADP said non-farm private employment rose by 190,000 last month, below expectations for an increase of 201,000. The economy created 177,000 jobs in July, whose figure was downwardly revised from a previously reported increase of 185,000.
Data also showed that U.S. factory orders increased by 0.4% in July, missing forecasts for a gain of 0.9%.
Investors were looking ahead to Friday’s U.S. jobs report for August, for more indications on the strength of the job market and the likelihood of a near-term interest rate hike by the Federal Reserve.
The dollar gained ground higher after the Nikkei rose in early trade, dampening demand for the Japanese currency.
But the Nikkei ended slightly lower and Chinese shares were also lower after a volatile session after Tuesday’s run of disappointing manufacturing data added to fears over the global economic outlook.
Disclaimer: Fusion Media would like to remind you that the data contained in this website is not necessarily real-time nor accurate. All CFDs (stocks, indexes, futures) and Forex prices are not provided by exchanges but rather by market makers, and so prices may not be accurate and may differ from the actual market price, meaning prices are indicative and not appropriate for trading purposes. Therefore Fusion Media doesn`t bear any responsibility for any trading losses you might incur as a result of using this data .
Fusion Media or anyone involved with Fusion Media will not accept any liability for loss or damage as a result of reliance on the information including data, quotes, charts and buy/sell signals contained within this website. Please be fully informed regarding the risks and costs associated with trading the financial markets, it is one of the riskiest investment forms possible.
