Investing.com - The Australian dollar moved higher against its U.S. counterpart on Wednesday, while the New Zealand dollar held steady as demand for the greenback mildly weakened ahead of the minutes of the Federal Reserve’s latest policy meeting.
AUD/USD rose 0.26% to 0.7841, not far from the previous session’s one-month low of 0.7808.
The greenback strengthened broadly after data on Tuesday showed that U.S. retail sales rose at a faster than expected rate in July.
A separate report showed that the Empire State manufacturing index climbed to 25.20 in August from 9.80 the previous month, blowing past expectations for a reading of 10.00. It was the highest level since September 2014.
Market participants were looking ahead to U.S. reports on building permits and housing starts, due later in the day, as well as the minutes of the Fed’s most recent policy meeting for indications on another potential rate hike this year.
In Australia, data earlier showed that the wage price index rose 0.5% in the second quarter, in line with expectations.
Wage prices increased by 0.6% in the first quarter of 2017, whose figure was revised from a previously estimated 0.5% gain.
NZD/USD was little changed at a one-month trough of 0.7239.
Meanwhile, market sentiment continued to improve since North Korea said on Tuesday it had delayed a decision on a plan to fire missiles at the U.S. Pacific territory of Guam while it watches U.S. actions a little longer.
The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, was steady at 93.75, just off Tuesday’s three-week high of 94.04.