Aussie extends losses, as data shows nation's business confidence weakened

On Tuesday the Australian dollar continued its decline against its peers in the Asian session after data showed that the nation's business confidence declined in February.

According to the data from the National Australia Bank, business confidence in Australia declined in February, with an index score of 0. That's down from +3 in January.

The mining sector continued to worsen due to weak commodity markets and unfavorable movements in the Australian dollar exchange rate. The measure of conditions in the mining industry fell 14 points in February, while the index of confidence plummeted 22 points.

Inspired by last Friday's strong US jobs data, market players bet that the Federal Reserve will consider hiking rates as early as June. The US rate hike talk also weighed on the aussie.

In China, data from the National Bureau of Statistics showed that consumer prices in China were up 1.4% on year in February. That was bigger than the 1% increase expected by economists, following the 0.8% gain in January.

Producer prices were down an annual 4.8% in February, exceeding forecasts for a decline of 4.3%, which would have been unchanged from the previous month.

In the Asian trading today, the Australian dollar fell to a 5-week low of 0.7631 against the US dollar and nearly a 4-week low of 0.9652 against the Canadian dollar, from yesterday's closing quotes of 0.7701 and 0.9708, respectively. If the aussie extends its downtrend, it is likely to find support around 0.75 against the greenback and 0.95 against the loonie.

The Aussie slipped against the euro to reach a 4-day low of 1.4139 from yesterday's closing value of 1.4085, respectively. The pair is likely to find support around the 1.44 area.

The Australian dollar edged down to 93.08 against the yen, from yesterday's closing value of 93.30. The aussie may test support near the 90.53 region.

Japan machine tool orders for February is due to be released at 2:00 am ET. Subsequently, Swiss unemployment rate is set to be published at 2:45 am ET.

ECOFIN, the meeting of the Economic and Financial Affairs Council, will be held in Brussels at 4:00 am ET.

At the same time, European Central Bank executive board member Yves Mersch is expected to speak at a banking conference on "What to expect now the ECB is in charge"in Paris.

In the New York session, US NFIB small business index for February and US wholesale trade sales data for January are slated for release.

At 10:30 am ET, High-level panel discussion on "The Western Balkans - 15 Years of Economic Transition: Policy Challenges and Solutions Ahead" moderated by IMF European Department Director Poul Thomsen will be held in Vienna. Austrian National Bank Governor Ewald Nowotny, along with Croatian National Bank Governor Boris Vujcic and Macedonia Finance Minister Zoran Stavreski, will be attending in the panel discussion.

Later, Bank of England Governor Mark Carney will testify before the Lords Economic Affairs Committee in London.

At 2:00 pm ET, Bank of England's Executive Director Paul Fisher will attend at a panel discussion at the UCL Law Faculty, in London.

After half-an-hour, External BOE MPC Member Ian McCafferty will deliver a speech at the Durham University Business School.