Investing.com - The Australian and New Zealand dollars moved lower against their U.S. counterpart on Wednesday, after disappointing inflation data from Australia, although sentiment on the greenback was also vulnerable amid sustained uncertainties surrounding U.S. politics.
AUD/USD fell 0.28% to 0.7516.
The Australian Bureau of Statistics reported earlier Wednesday that the consumer price index rose 0.5% in the first quarter, confounding expectations for a 0.6% gain, after a 0.5% rise in the three months to December.
Year-on-year, consumer prices gained 2.1% in the last quarter, compared to expectations for an increase of 2.2%.
NZD/USD dropped 0.50% to trade at 0.6920, the lowest since April 12.
Meanwhile, sentiment on the greenback remained fragile ahead of a looming deadline to avoid a U.S. government shutdown and more details of a plan to overhaul tax from President Donald Trump.
Trump said last week that he would make an announcement about "a big tax reform and tax reduction" on Wednesday.
Trump has also indicated that he is flexible about waiting to secure funding for his promised border wall with Mexico, in a shift that could clear the way for lawmakers to reach a deal to avoid a government shutdown on Saturday.
The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, was down 0.09% at 98.63, just off the previous session’s five-month lows of 98.56.