The Australian dollar dropped against its U.S. counterpart on Tuesday, after the Reserve Bank of Australia left interest rates unchanged but signaled the possibility for future easing measures.
AUD/USD hit 0.7064 during late Asian trade, the session low; the pair subsequently consolidated at 0.7075, declining 0.53%.
In a widely expected move, the RBA held its benchmark interest rate at 2.00%.
In a statement following the decision, the central bank said however that subdued inflation may “provide scope for easier policy”.
The pound fell to session lows against the dollar on Tuesday after data showing that activity in the U.K. construction sector slowed to a nine-month low in January, indicating a subdued start to the year in 2016.
GBP/USD hit lows of 1.4328 and was last at 1.4358, off 0.51% for the day.
The Markit U.K. construction purchasing managers' index fell 55.0 last month from December’s 57.8. Economists’ had expected a more modest decline to 57.5.
“U.K. construction firms struggled for momentum at the start of this year, with heightened economic uncertainty acting as a brake on new orders and contributing to one of the weakest rises in output levels since the summer of 2013,” Tim Moore, senior economist at Markit said.
The data came one day after a similar survey showing that U.K. factory activity grew at the fastest rate in three months in January, but new export orders fell as the strong pound weighed and firms cut staffing levels.
Earlier Tuesday, Eurostat said that the euro zone’s unemployment rate fell to 10.4% from 10.5% in November. This is the lowest rate recorded in the euro area since September 2011. Analysts had expected the jobless rate to hold steady at 10.5% in December.
The report came shortly after Germany's Federal Statistics Office said the unemployment rate fell to 6.2% in January from 6.3% a month earlier. Analysts had expected the jobless rate to hold steady at 6.3% last month.
Oil prices dropped over 5% back toward $30 a barrel after Iran said it planned to increase crude exports to 2.3 million barrels per day in its next fiscal year, starting March 21.
The U.S. dollar climbed higher against its Canadian counterpart on Tuesday, as declining oil prices weighed on demand for the commodity-related Canadian currency.
The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, was down 0.15% to 98.90.
