SYDNEY: The Australian dollar dipped on Monday after domestic data on retail sales disappointed, though strength in home prices and construction helped limit the damage.

The Australian dollar eased to $0.7613, from $0.7633 before the data, but remained within the recent trading range of $0.7587 to $0.7679. The New Zealand dollar was little changed at $0.7008.

Australian government bond futures edged higher, with the three-year bond contract up 1 tick at 98.060. The 10-year contract rose 2.5 ticks to 97.2950.

New Zealand government bonds also gained, pushing yields as much as 4.5 basis points lower at the long end of the curve.

The Aussie decline came after data on retail sales showed a 0.1 percent fall in February, when analysts had looked for a rise of around 0.3 percent. Sales have been subdued for some time in part because discounting in the highly competitive sector is eating into nominal earnings.

There was brighter news on housing with approvals to build new homes jumping 8.3 percent in February and blowing away forecasts of a 1.0 percent drop.

Approvals to build new houses boasted the biggest increase in 14 months, suggesting the construction pipeline should stay healthy for some time yet.

Fresh supply is badly needed given how demand is driving prices ever higher in Sydney and Melbourne. Property consultant CoreLogic’s index of home prices for the combined capital cities climbed 1.4 percent in March, taking annual growth to 12.9 percent.

Regulators are responding with tighter lending restrictions. Australia’s corporate watchdog on Monday said it was launching a new round of industry surveillance to ensure banks and brokers were not recommending overly expensive interest-only loans to customers.—Reuters