Investing.com - The Australian and New Zealand dollars moved sharply higher against their U.S. counterpart on Thursday, after positive data from Australia and New Zealand and as the Federal Reserve’s most recent policy statement weighed heavily on the greenback.
AUD/USD rallied 1.02% to a fresh eight-month high of 0.7628.
The greenback weakened broadly after the Fed left its monetary policy unchanged on Wednesday and said that it is likely to raise interest rates twice this year – and not four times, as initially estimated.
Fed policymakers said the U.S. economy faces risks from an uncertain global economy, although moderate growth and "strong job gains" would allow it to tighten policy this year.
In Australia, data earlier showed that the number of employed people rose by 300 in February, disappointing expectations for an increase of 10,000. The number of employed people declined by 7,400 in January, whose figure was revised from a previously estimated 7,900 drop.
However, Australia’s unemployment rate ticked down to 5.8% last month from 6.0% in January. Analysts had expected the unemployment rate to remain unchanged in February.
NZD/USD jumped 1.01% to trade at 0.6791.
The kiwi also found support after Statistics New Zealand said gross domestic product rose 0.9% in the fourth quarter, exceeding expectations for 0.6% and after a growth rate of 0.9% in the previous quarter.
Year-on-year, New Zealand GDP expanded by 2.3% in the fourth quarter, compared to expectations for 2.0% and after a growth rate of 2.3% in the three months to September.
The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, was down 0.25% at 95.46, the lowest since February 11.