Australian Dollar Drops After Dismal Capital Expenditure Data

The Australian dollar slipped against its major counterparts in the Asian session on Thursday, as a data showed that the nation's capital expenditure declined unexpectedly in the second quarter as robust growth in machinery and equipment investment was offset by weaker spending on buildings.

Data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics showed that total new capital expenditure decreased 0.5 percent sequentially in the second quarter, confounding expectations for an increase of 0.4 percent.

On a yearly basis, overall capex was down 1 percent in the second quarter.

Asian stocks are trading mostly lower as the bond rally continued unabated, exaggerating the risk of recession.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said that trade talks will continue, but seems uncertain about September meeting.

The aussie declined to 3-day lows of 0.6717 against the greenback, 71.12 against the yen and 1.6501 against the euro, from its early highs of 0.6744, 71.54 and 1.6437, respectively. If the aussie slides further, 0.63, 66.00 and 1.69 are possibly seen as its next support levels against the greenback, the yen and and the euro, respectively.

The aussie depreciated to a 2-day low of 0.8943 against the loonie, off an early high of 0.8973. The currency is likely to find support around the 0.80 level.

The aussie eased off slightly to 1.0635 against the kiwi, from near a 4-month high of 1.0664 hit at 11:15 pm ET. The aussie is seen finding support around the 1.05 level.

Looking ahead, Eurozone economic sentiment, German jobless rate and flash inflation data, all for August, are due in the European session.

In the New York session, U.S. weekly jobless claims for the week ended August 24, wholesale inventories for July and GDP data for the second quarter are slated for release.