Investing.com - The Australian dollar gained on Tuesday despite a wider than expected trade gap with the focus on the upcoming rate review by the central bank.
Australia's August trade deficit came in at a deficit of A$3.1 billion, wider than the A$2.55 billion expected on a lower-than-expected rise in exports of non-rural-goods and the less-than-expected unwinding of increases in gold exports seen in July.
AUD/USD traded at 0.7087, up 0.04%, while USD/JPY changed hands at 120.45, down 0.01%.
At 1430 (0330 GMT), the RBA's cash rate decision is due with a unanimous view that the rate will be once again left unchanged at 2.0% but a few economists are expecting a more stronger easing bias.
The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, was down 0.05% to 96.17.
Overnight, the dollar trimmed losses against the other major currencies on Monday, but remained under pressure as downbeat U.S. service sector data further dampened optimism over the strength of the economy.
The Institute of Supply Management reported on Monday that its non-manufacturing purchasing managers' index fell to 56.9 in September from a reading of 59.0 the previous month. Analysts had expected the index to tick down to 57.5 last month.
The report came after weak U.S. jobs data on Friday underlined fears that a slowdown in global economic growth has spread to the U.S. economy and prompted investors to push back expectations on the timing of an initial rate hike by the Federal Reserve to early 2016.