Forex - Aussie stronger ahead of flash HSBC China PMI for March

Investing.com - The Australian dollar was a tad higher in early Asia on Tuesday with investors focused on HSBC (LONDON:HSBA)'s initial March reading on manufacturing.

AUD/USD traded at 0.7886, up 0.08%, while USD/JPY changed hands at 119.72, flat. EUR/USD was up 0.06% at 1.0952.

In China, the March flash reading of the HSBC PMI will be released at 09:45 Beijing time (0145 GMT) and is expected at 50.6, a slight downtick from 50.7 in February.

Reserve Bank of Australia assistant governor for financial system Malcolm Edey participates in a panel discussion at the ASIC Annual Forum in Sydney at 1550 (0550 GMT).

Overnight, the dollar remained broadly lower against a basket of other major currencies on Monday, after data showed that U.S. existing home sales rose less-than-expected in February and as uncertainty over the timing of a U.S. rate hike continued to weigh on demand for the greenback.

The National Association of Realtors earlier reported that U.S. existing home sales increased 1.2% to 4.88 million units last month from 4.82 million in January. Analysts had expected existing home sales to rise 1.7% to 4.90 million units in February.

The dollar remained under pressure amid uncertainty over the path of U.S. monetary policy after the Federal Reserve downgraded its forecasts for growth and inflation and lowered its interest rate projections last week.

However, despite the past week’s reversal the greenback was likely to continue to strengthen, with the Fed still expected to raise interest rates ahead of other central banks.

The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, was quoted at 97.24, up 0.04% in early Asia.

The single currency found some support after Greek authorities said on Friday that they were moving towards meeting the requirements of international creditors on a more detailed reform plan in order to secure the additional bailout funds required to prevent the country's bankruptcy.

Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras was set to meet with German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Berlin on Monday.

Later Monday, European Central Bank President Mario Draghi was to appear before a European Parliament committee, with the situation in Greece likely to be high on the agenda.