Investing.com - The Aussie fell slightly and the yen gained a tad in Asia on Friday as homes sales in Australia eased from the previous month's pace and Japan showed inflation figures as expected amid some signs of life on household spending and jobs.
USD/JPY changed hands at 105.23, down 0.05%, while AUD/USD traded at 0.7589, down 0.03%. GBP/USD was up 0.12% at at 1.2177.
Australia reported HIA new home sales for October gained 3.8% after a rise of 6.1% month-on-month in September, and PPI figures for the third quarter showed a 0.5% increase year-on-year, compared to a with a 0.8% gain seen, and a 0.3% rise quarter-on-quarter, lower than the 0.6% rise expected.
Earlier in Japan, national CPI for September fell 0.5% year-on-year as and national core CPI also fell 0.5% year-on-year, the seventh straight drop. Retailers are cautious about raising prices sectors as uncertainty over global and domestic growth remains a factor as well as a lack of wage hikes that make it nearly impossible to achieve a sustained 2% inflation rate as sought by the Bank of Japan by next year.
As well in Japan, household spending dipped 2.1% year-on-year in September, the seventh straight decline, compared to a drop of 3.0% seen and jumped 2.8% month-on-month with a 0.6% gain expected.
The unemployment rate eased to 3.0%, a 21-year-low also touched in July 2016, from 3.1%. The continued improvement in the labor market has failed to boost average
wages, and thus consumer spending, as firms are cautious about raising costs due to uncertainty over global and domestic demand as well as sliding inflation expectations.
The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, fell 0.04% to 98.88.
Investors await U.S. third quarter growth data on Friday, which is expected to show a significant rebound from the second quarter.
Overnight, the dollar pushed higher against the other major currencies on Thursday, despite the release of mixed U.S. economic reports as expectations for a rate hike later this year remained high.
Data on Thursday showed that U.S. orders for long lasting manufactured goods fell slightly in September.
Total durable goods orders, which include transportation items, dropped 0.1% last month, the Commerce Department said.
But excluding defense spending, durable-goods orders rose by 0.7%. Stripping out transportation, orders rose 0.2%.
Core capital goods orders, viewed as a key measure of business investment slumped 1.2% last month, the largest drop since February and were down 4.1% on a yearly basis.
A separate report showed that the number of Americans filing for unemployment benefits fell by 3,000 to 258,000 last week, pointing to sustained labor market strength and firming economic growth.