Investing.com – The Australian dollar fell during Asian trade on Wednesday after data showed the official wage price index fell to its slowest annual pace since the series began in September 1979.
The Australian Bureau of Statistics reported that the annual pace slowed to 2.6% for the wage price series ended in the fourth quarter of 2013, though the quarterly figure gained to 0.7%.
In Japan, at 1245 in Tokyo (0345 GMT) Ministry of Finance will the release its 20-year JGB auction results. The MOF is due to auction Y1.2 trillion of 20-year bonds. At 1400 (0500 GMT), the Bank of Japan will release its monthly economic report.
USD/JPY fell 0.15% at 102.20, AUD/USD traded down 0.22% at 0.9006 and NZD/USD also fell 0.08% at 0.8300.
On Tuesday the dollar weakened after the Federal Reserve Bank of New York said that its general business conditions index came in at 4.48 for February, down from a 20-month high of 12.51 in January. Analysts had expected the index to decline to 9.00.
The new orders index fell to zero from a two-year high of 11 last month.
The numbers were the latest in a series of soft U.S. economic indicators that have prompted many investors to wonder whether the Federal Reserve will slow the pace of reductions made to its asset-buying stimulus program.
The Fed is currently buying USD65 billion in bonds a month to suppress interest rates to spur recovery, which weakens the dollar as a side effect.
The dollar index, which tracks the performance of the greenback versus a basket of six other major currencies, fell 0.05% at 80.01.
On Wednesday, the U.S. is to publish reports on building permits, housing starts and producer price inflation.