Investing.com - The Aussie gained after construction data later Wednesday and the yen drifted stronger as investors increasingly turn attention to the Federal Reserve on interest rates.
In Australia, construction work done for the first quarter fell 2.6%, more than the 1.5% drop seen quarter-on-quarter.
AUD/USD traded at 0.7210, up 0.39%, while USD/JPY traded at 109.96, down 0.04%. EUR/USD rose 0.13% to 1.1155 after talks on Greece's debt program concluded.
The surprise was weaker non-residential construction. In the May Statement on Monetary Policy, the RBA said that non-residential building approvals remain at relatively low levels.
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 0.6761, up 0.36%, after the data.
The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, eased 0.07% to 95.42.
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.