Investing.com - The Australian held steady against its U.S. counterpart on Thursday, after upbeat Australian employment data, while the New Zealand dollar moved lower as the Federal Reserve’s decision to raise interest rates lent broad support to the greenback.
AUD/USD was little changed at 0.7411.
The Australian Bureau of Statistics earlier reported that the number of employed people rose by 39,100 in November, beating expectations for a 20,000 gain.
The number of employed people increased by 15,200 in October, whose figure was revised from a previously estimated 9,800 rise.
The report also showed that Australia’s unemployment rate ticked up to 5.7% last month from 5.6% in October, compared to expectations for an unchanged reading.
NZD/USD dropped 0.45% to trade at 0.7085, the lowest since December 5.
Meanwhile, the greenback found broad support after the Fed concluded its policy meeting on Wednesday by raising interest rates by 25 basis points and projected three more rate hikes for 2017.
It was the Fed’s first rate hike since December 2015.
The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, was up 0.47% at a fresh 14-year high of 102.51.