Investing.com - The Australian dollar was little changed against its U.S. counterpart on Wednesday, while the New Zealand dollar moved lower as declining expectations for a production freeze deal this week weighed on commodity-related currencies.
AUD/USD was steady at 0.7670, not far from the previous session’s two-and-a-half week high of 0.7696.
Sentiment on the commodity currencies remained fragile following reports on Tuesday that differences between Saudi Arabia and Iran remained too wide to achieve a production freeze deal this week.
NZD/USD slid 0.38% to trade at 0.7275.
Meanwhile, the greenback remained supported as analysts considered that Hillary Clinton did better than her rival Donald Trump during Monday night’s Presidential debate.
Markets tend to see Clinton as a status quo candidate, while few are sure what a Trump presidency might mean for international trade deals or the U.S. economy.
The U.S. dollar was also boosted after the Conference Board said on Tuesday that its consumer confidence index increased to a nine-year high of 104.1 this month from 101.8 in August.
The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, was up 0.13% at 95.47.