Investing.com - The Australian dollar and Japanese yen held mostly steady on Wednesday after data sets that failed to trigger sharp moves.
AUD/USD traded at 0.8776, down 0.02%, while USD/JPY changed hands at 107.01, up 0.01%.
In Australia, third quarter CPI rose 0.5%, a bit higher than the 0.4% expected. Earlier, Westpac-MI said that its leading index dropped 0.5 point in September to 97.92.
In Japan, the trade balance came in at Y958 billion, wider than the ¥777 billion expected.
The dollar traded largely higher against most major currencies on Tuesday, buoyed by upbeat U.S. home sales numbers and talk of fresh European Central Bank stimulus programs, though lackluster Chinese economic growth figures capped gains.
The single currency slid and gave the dollar room to rise after Reuters reported that the European Central Bank may purchase corporate debt to boost slowing inflation rates in the euro area and kick start recovery.
The report said the bank could activate the new stimulus plan as soon as December and begin bond purchases by early next year.
The ECB began purchasing covered bonds on Monday in a bid to increase liquidity in the region, and talk of fresh stimulus programs softened the euro and boosted the dollar.
Meanwhile in the U.S., the National Association of Realtors said that existing home sales increased 2.4% to 5.17 million units in September from 5.05 million in August.
Analysts had expected existing home sales to rise 1% to 5.10 million units in September, and the better-than-expected figure boosted demand for the greenback.
While European and Asian central banks are seen taking steps to loosen policy, the Federal Reserve is expected to close its bond-buying program this month and begin hiking interest rates some time in 2015.
Still, the dollar battled headwinds out of China, where data revealed the economy grew at an annual rate of 7.3% in the three months to September, slightly higher than the 7.2% forecast by economists but still slower than the 7.5% rate recorded in the second quarter.
It was the slowest rate of growth since the first quarter of 2009, in the midst of the global financial crisis, and the numbers pressured the greenback earlier on fears a slower global economy may weigh on U.S. recovery.
The US Dollar Index, which tracks the performance of the greenback versus a basket of six other major currencies, was up 0.03% at 85.47.
On Wednesday, the U.S. is to produce data on consumer prices.