Investing.com - The Australian and New Zealand dollars were higher against their U.S. counterpart on Monday, as demand for the greenback weakened broadly ahead of the Federal Reserve’s policy meeting this week.
AUD/USD gained 0.68% to 0.7539, the highest since September 13.
The greenback had strengthened after the U.S. Commerce Department said on Friday that the consumer price index rose 0.2% in August, compared to expectations for a 0.1% gain.
Year-over-year, consumer prices increased 1.1%, above expectations for a gain of 1.0%.
The strong data fuelled fresh speculation over a potential U.S. rate hike this month.
NZD/USD climbed 0.55% to trade at 0.7307.
Separately, the commodity currencies were supported by a rebound in oil prices on Monday, after Venezuela said OPEC and non-OPEC producers were close to reaching an output stabilizing deal.
The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, was down 0.22% at 95.84, off Friday’s two-week high of 96.12.