Investing.com - The Australian dollar moved higher against its U.S. counterpart on Thursday, while the New Zealand dollar slipped after reaching multi-month highs as the Federal Reserve disppointed investors by leaving its 2018 interest rate outlook unchanged.
AUD/USD rose 0.37% to 0.7665, the highest since November 10.
In a widely expected move, the Fed raised interest rates by 0.25 basis points to 1.50% at the conclusion of its policy meeting on Wednesday.
The central bank did not change its projections for 2018, which include three more interest rate hikes in both 2018 and 2019, disappointing expectations for four rate hikes next year.
But the greenback's losses were expected to remain limited, as Congressional Republicans reached a deal on final tax legislation on Wednesday, clearing the way for final votes next week.
In Australia, data earlier showed that the number of employed people increased by 61,600 in November, beating expectations for a 19,200 rise.
The unemployment rate remained unchaned at 5.4% last month, in line with expectations.
NZD/USD slipped 0.26% to trade at 0.7006, just off the previous session's nearly two-month high of 0.7027.
The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, was steady at 93.45 by 02:15 a.m. ET (06:15 GMT), its lowest since December 6.