Investing.com - The Aussie drifted weaker in early Asian trade on Wednesday with the market poised for more China data, this time on prices, and looking at a rebound in the dollar as views on the next Fed rate hike timing swing back and forth.
AUD/USD traded at 0.7909, down 0.05%, while USD/JPY changed hands at 110.11, down 0.21%.
In Australia, home loans data is due for June with a 1.5% gain expected. Later, China reports consumer and producer prices for July with CPI seen up 0.2% on month and 1.5% on year. PPI is seen up 5.6%.
The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, was last quoted at 93.48.
Overnight, the dollar traded higher against a basket of global currencies on Tuesday, after data showed U.S. job openings soared to a record high in June.
The dollar shrugged off earlier weakness to hit nearly two-week highs, after U.S. job openings, a measure of labor demand, increased 461,000 to a seasonally adjusted 6.2 million, the highest level since the series started in December 2000, the Labor Department said on Tuesday.
The bullish labor report reinforced the narrative of a solid U.S. labor market, following Friday’s better-than-expected nonfarm payrolls report, pointing to a stronger U.S. economy, bolstering the case for Federal Reserve to raise rates later this year.
St. Louis Fed President James Bullard suggested, however, that low interest rates are “likely to remain appropriate” over the near term.
"The current level of the policy rate is likely to remain appropriate over the near term," Bullard said Monday.
Inflation data later in the week, however, is expected to dominate moves in the dollar, with producer price index and the consumer price index data due Thursday and Friday respectively.
In the wake of rebound in the dollar, both the euro and sterling gave back some of their recent gains, with the latter falling for a second-straight day.