Investing.com - The Australian dollar was higher against its U.S. counterpart on Monday, while the New Zealand dollar held steady as investors prepared for the Federal Reserve and Bank of Japan’s upcoming policy meeting this week.
AUD/USD rose 0.23% to 0.7482, still close to Friday’s two-and-a-half week lows of 0.7439.
Upbeat U.S. data released that week supported expectations for a rate hike by the U.S. central bank in the near future.
While most investors expect the Fed to leave its monetary policy unchanged this week, it could give hints on the timing of future rate hikes.
NZD/USD was little changed at 0.6995, not far from Thursday’s one-and-a-half month lows of 0.6948.
Market participants were also looking ahead to Friday’s policy statement by the BoJ, amid growing expectations for the announcement of additional stimulus measures.
The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, was steady at 97.41, just off the fresh four-month highs of 97.62 hit overnight.