Aussie dollar lifts on greenback weakness

The Australian dollar has lifted in offshore trade after a mixed bag of U.S. economic data weighed on the greenback.

At the Asian open on Tuesday, the local unit was trading at 75.44 U.S. cents, up from 74.94 U.S. cents at Thursday's close. The Australian markets were closed on Friday and Monday for the Easter holiday period.

The U.S. dollar weakened after the U.S. PCE deflator accelerated below expectations for an annual pace of 1.7 percent (market consensus 1.8 percent), well below the U.S. Federal Reserve's target of two percent, despite personal consumption spending increasing slightly more than expected.

"This follows a sharper contraction in durable goods orders late last week, suggesting U.S. Q1 GDP growth will be unimpressive," Commonwealth Bank of Australia senior currency strategist Elias Haddad said.

The Australian dollar is poised to edge slightly higher this week as the greenback remains on the defensive in the first half while a modest improvement in China's March manufacturing Purchasing Managers Index (PMI) is expected, Haddad said.

"(U.S. Federal Reserve) Chair Janet Yellen speech Wednesday morning is the highlight (of the week's activity - local calendar is bare) as she may provide clues about the Fed's interest rate normalisation path," Haddad said.

"We continue to anticipate the Fed to raise rates again in June, which will limit the U.S. dollar downside."

By 0933 local time (AEDT), the Australian dollar had slipped to 75.42 U.S. cents. Enditem