Investing.com - The Australian dollar was higher against its U.S. counterpart on Wednesday, while the New Zealand dollar held steady after a holiday in the U.S. and as investors continued to focus on a fresh North Corean missile test.
AUD/USD rose 0.22% to 0.7621.
Upbeat U.S. manufacturing data on Monday reinforced expectations for another rate hike by the Federal Reserve this year and helped the dollar index to rebound from Friday’s nine-month trough.
The dollar had come under pressure last week amid expectations that central banks in Europe and Canada are getting ready to join the Fed in tightening monetary policy.
U.S. markets remained closed on Tuesday for the Independence Day holiday.
NZD/USD was little changed at 0.7285.
Traders remained cautious after North Korea said on Tuesday that it had fired an “unidentified ballistic missile” which landed in the Sea of Japan. Tokyo strongly protested what it called a clear violation of UN resolutions.
The test came just days before leaders from the Group of 20 nations are due to discuss steps to curtail North Korea’s weapons programs.
The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, was steady at 95.94.