Investing.com - The Australian and New Zealand dollars moved higher against their U.S. counterpart on Wednesday, as a rebound in oil prices helped commodity currencies and as the greenback remained weakened after comments by Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen.
AUD/USD rose 0.25% to 0.7470.
Oil prices regained some ground after the American Petroleum Institute said on Tuesday that U.S. oil stocks fell more than expected last week.
Market sentiment also improved as investors remained cautiously optimistic that British voters will chose to remain in the European Union on Thursday.
A poll on Tuesday showed that 45% of British citizens preferred to remain in the EU, with 44% opting for a Brexit and 11% undecided.
NZD/USD added 0.22% to trade at 0.7140, close to the previous session’s one-year high of 0.7168.
Meanwhile, the greenback remained under pressure after Yellen outlined how the central bank was thrown off course within weeks of raising rates last December by a slowdown in domestic growth and international events.
In prepared testimony before the Senate Banking Committee on Tuesday, Yellen said that some of those clouds remain, seeming to signal no pressing need for the Fed to raise rates.
The Fed president also said the Brexit referendum on Thursday is considered a possible flashpoint for the global economy if Britain decides to cut its ties with the EU.
The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, was down 0.14% at 94.03.