Investing.com - The Australian dollar was steady against its U.S. counterpart on Wednesday, while the New Zealand dollar moved higher despite the release of disappointing data from New Zealand, as investors eyed upcoming U.S. jobs data due later in the day.
AUD/USD was little changed at 0.7513, just off Tuesday’s one-month lows of 0.7495.
Market participants were looking ahead to a U.S. employment report due later Wednesday, for further indications on the strength of the economy.
On Tuesday Federal Reserve Vice Chairman Stanley Fischer said the U.S. labor market is almost at full strength and the pace of interest rate increases will be data dependent.
The greenback remained supported after Fed Chair Janet Yellen said in a speech at Jackson Hole last Friday that the case for raising U.S. interest rates has strengthened in recent months, citing improvements in the labor market and hopes for modest economic growth.
NZD/USD gained 0.35% to trade at 0.7243.
Earlier Wednesday, data showed that the ANZ business confidence index for New Zealand ticked down to 15.5 in August from 16.0 the previous month.
The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, was steady at 96.04, just off the three-week high of 96.12 hit overnight.