Investing.com - The Australian and New Zealand dollars moved lower against their U.S. counterpart on Thursday, as demand for the greenback remained supported by growing hopes for a U.S. rate hike before the end of the year.
AUD/USD dropped 0.56% to 0.7580, the lowest since September 21.
The greenback remained supported after the Institute of Supply Management said on Wednesday that its non-manufacturing purchasing manager's index rose to an 11-month high of 57.1 last month from 51.4 in August.
Analysts had expected the index to increase to 53.0.
On a less positive note, payroll processing firm ADP said non-farm private employment rose by 154,000 last month, below forecasts for an increase of 166,000.
Market participants were focusing on Friday’s U.S. nonfarm payrolls report for further indications on the strength of the job market, as the Federal Reserve has indicated that future interest rate decisions will be data-dependent.
In Australia, data earlier showed that the trade deficit narrowed to A$2.010 billion in August from A$2.121 billion in July, whose figure was revised from a previously estimated deficit of A$2.410 billion.
Analysts had expected the trade deficit to hit A$2.300 billion in August.
NZD/USD slipped 0.21% to trade at 0.7158, not far from the previous session’s two-month low of 0.7146.
The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, was up 0.15% at 96.27, close to Tuesday’s two-month peak of 96.39.