Investing.com - The Australian dollar held steady against its U.S. counterpart on Tuesday, after the release of disappointing Australian house price data and as demand for the greenback remained broadly supported.
AUD/USD hit 0.7694 during late Asian trade, the session low; the pair subsequently consolidated at 0.7732.
The pair was likely to find support at 0.7641, the low of June 17 and resistance at 0.7799, Monday's high.
Earlier Tuesday, the Australian Bureau of Statistics said that its house price index rose 1.6% in the first quarter, disappointing expectations for an increase of 2.3%. The change in house prices in the last three months of 2014 was revised to a 2.0% gain from a previously estimated 1.9% rise.
Separately, data showed that the China HSBC Flash Manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index rose to 49.6 in June from 49.2 the previous month, remaining in contraction territory for the third consecutive month.
China is Australia's biggest export partner.
Meanwhile, the safe-haven greenback remained supported after euro zone finance ministers failed to reach agreement over Greece’s bailout at an emergency meeting on Monday, but indicated that a final deal could be made later this week.
Eurogroup head Jeroen Dijsselbloem said new reform proposals from the Greek government were “broad and comprehensive,” and a good basis to restart stalled negotiations.
The U.S. dollar was also boosted after industry data on Monday showed that U.S. existing home sales increased 5.1% to 5.35 million units last month from 5.09 million in April. Analysts had expected existing home sales to rise 4.4% to 5.26 million units in May.
Investors were eyeing a report on U.S. durable goods orders due later in the day, for further indications on the strength of the economy.
The Aussie was higher against the euro, with EUR/AUD dropping 0.71% to 1.4574.