Investing.com – The dollar was almost unchanged against the other major currencies on Tuesday, after the release of downbeat U.S. housing sector data and as investors awaited the Federal Reserve and Bank of Japan’s highly-anticiated policy statements due on Wednesday.
held steady at 1.1178.
The U.S. Commerce Department said dropped 5.8% to 1.142 million units last month from July’s total of 1.212 million units. Analysts had expected a decline of 1.7% in August.
Meanwhile, the number of issued declined 0.4% to 1.139 million units from 1.144 million. Economists had forecast a 2.5% rise to 1.170 million units in August.
Investors remained cautious with the U.S. dollar ahead of the Fed’s monthly policy meeting, set to begin later Tuesday, amid ongoing uncertainty over a possible rate hike.
dropped 0.50% to 1.2964, the lowest since August 16.
eased 0.08% to trade at 101.85, while slipped 0.10% to 0.9792.
Market participants were also looking ahead to the BoJ’s upcoming policy meeting this week, amid speculation over a possible rate cut further into negative territory.
The Australian and New Zealand dollars were stronger, with up 0.23% at 0.7550 and with advancing 0.75% to 0.7348.
Elsewhere, rose 0.23% to trade at 1.3233.
The commodity-related loonie came under pressure as moved back lower on Tuesday after global crude supplies needed to decline by 10% in order to bring production down to consumption levels, sparking fresh supply glut concerns.
Crude prices had rallied on Monday after OPEC and non-OPEC producers were close to reaching an output stabilizing deal.
The , which measures the greenback’s strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, was steady at 95.87.
