Investing.com - The Aussie was up ahead of construction data later Wednesday and the yen drifted weaker as investors increasingly turn attention to the Federal Reserve on interest rates.
In Australia, construction work done for the first quarter is due with a 1.5% drop seen quarter-on-quarter.
Earlier, New Zealand reported the trade balance for April showed a deficit of NZ$3.66 billion year-on-year, and a surplus of NZ$292 million month-on-month.
NZD/USD traded at 0.6753, up 0.24%, after the data.
The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, was last quoted at 95.59.
Overnight, the dollar pushed higher to hit a fresh two-month peak against the other major currencies on Tuesday, after data showed that U.S. new home sales rose far more than expected in April added to expectations for a June rate hike by the Federal Reserve.
The U.S. Commerce Department said new home sales rose by 16.6% to 619,000 units last month, compared to expectations for a 2.0% increase.
New home sales in March were revised to show a 1.3% decline to 531,000 units, from the prior reading of a 1.5% slump.
The data came after St. Louis Fed President James Bullard said Monday that more factors favored a gradual rate increase versus keeping them steady.
Separately, San Francisco Fed President John Williams said he still sees the central bank raising interest rates two to three times this year.