AUD/USD edges higher but gains seen limited

The Australian dollar edged higher against its U.S. counterpart on Tuesday, but gains were seen to remain limited as expectations for the Federal Reserve to soon begin tapering its stimulus program continued to support the greenback.

AUD/USD hit 0.9203 during late Asian trade, the pair's highest since November 22; the pair subsequently consolidated at 0.9187, rising 0.28%.

The pair was likely to find support at 0.9120, Monday's low and a one-and-a-half month low and resistance at 0.9250, the high of November 22.

Investors consolidated their positions following sharp gains in the past several days, but the greenback remained supported after last week’s minutes of the Fed’s October meeting said the bank could start tapering its USD85 billion-a-month asset purchase program in the “coming months” if the economy continues to improve as expected.

The Aussie was fractionally higher against the euro with EUR/AUD easing 0.09%, to hit 1.4742.

Later in the day, the U.S. was to produce data on building permits, as well as private sector data on consumer confidence and house price inflation.