Investing.com - The Australian and New Zealand dollars edged higher against their U.S. counterpart on Wednesday, after dovish comments from Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen dampened expectations for an upcoming U.S. rate hike.
AUD/USD added 0.13% to 0.7635.
The greenback weakened after Fed Chair Janet Yellen stressed the need to be cautious in raising rates and underlined external risks including low oil prices and slower global growth.
Yellen was speaking at a conference in New York late Tuesday.
NZD/USD edged up 0.18% to 0.6862, the highest since December 29.
Earlier Wednesday, Statistics New Zealand said that building consents increased by 10.8% in February, beating expectations for a 5.0% rise. Building consents declined by 7.8% in January, whose figure was revised from a previously estimated 8.2% drop.
The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, was down 0.08% at 95.09, the lowest since March 18.