By Swati Pandey and Charlotte Greenfield
SYDNEY/WELLINGTON, June 13 (Reuters) - The Australian and New Zealand dollars remained near their lowest levels since early June on Wednesday with many investors on the sidelines before a Federal Reserve policy decision later in the day.
The Aussie dollar AUD=D4 was last down 0.1 percent at $0.7564 after going as deep as $0.7556, the lowest since June 1.
The Australian currency has been stuck in a $0.7515/7620 range for several days. It broke the band to go as high as $0.7677 last week, but failed to stay at those levels as the U.S. dollar gathered momentum. FRX/
The New Zealand dollar NZD=D4 held at $0.7009, after making a new one-week low of $0.6995 earlier in the session.
Investors are focussed on how the U.S. central bank characterises its policy, with an increase in benchmark rates at this meeting virtually guaranteed. two-day meeting began on Tuesday, with fresh U.S. economic data showing inflation still on track and financial markets remaining calm despite global trade tensions. contrast to the Fed, the head of the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) on Wednesday reiterated the need for local interest rates to remain at record lows as it awaits a revival in wage growth and inflation. futures market 0#YIB: does not fully price in the chance of a rate hike until October 2019.
Data released earlier in the day showed a gauge of consumer sentiment ticked up in June after two monthly declines, but that still did not point to a sustained lift in consumption growth. confidence has been positive over 2018 which is in line with a strong labour market, but is still low overall and is lagging behind business sentiment," AMP Capital Senior Economist Diana Mousina said in a note.
"The small rise in consumer confidence over June is not enough to offset the other significant negatives weighing on Australian consumers at the moment."
On Thursday, Australia releases monthly labour data for May. A Reuters poll sees the unemployment rate stuck around 5.5 percent even as jobs growth is set to continue.
New Zealand government bonds 0#NZTSY= eased, sending yields 2 basis points higher at the long end of the curve.
Australian government bond futures gained, with the three-year bond contract YTTc1 up 1 tick at 97.780. The 10-year contract YTCc1 added 1.75 ticks to 97.2075. (Editing by Richard Borsuk)