Investing.com - The Australian and New Zealand dollars moved lower against their U.S. counterpart on Thursday, after the Reserve Bank of New Zealand left interest rates unchanged and the release of downbeat Australian business confidence data.
NZD/USD retreated 0.91% to 0.7197, the lowest since January 23.
In a widely expected move, the RBNZ held the benchmark interest rate at 1.75% at the end of its policy meeting on Thursday.
Commenting on the decision, RBNZ Governor Graemme Wheeler said any tightening in monetary policy might be at least two years away, adding "we're happy with the track that we have."
AUD/USD slid 0.30% to trade at 0.7199.
Also Thursday, the National Australia Bank said its business confidence index ticked down to 5 in the fourth quarter from a reading of 6 in the third quarter, whose figure was revised from a previously estimated reading of 5.
Meanwhile, sentiment on the greenback remained supported as political uncertainty in Europe continued to dominate market sentiment.
Worries over elections in France, Germany, the Netherlands and possibly Italy, as well as the ongoing row over Greece's bailout added to concerns over political risk in the euro area.
The U.S. dollar was boosted earlier in the week, after Minneapolis Federal Reserve Bank President Neel Kashkari said on Tuesday that the U.S. central bank should keep monetary policy moderately accommodative.
The comments came a day after Philly Fed President Patrick Harker said he would support hiking rates in March.
The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, was up 0.24% at 100.38, just off Tuesday’s one-week high of 100.69.