Investing.com - The Australian dollar was almost unchanged against its U.S. counterpart on Thursday, trading near six-month lows after the Federal Reserve crushed expectations for an early rate hike but lowered its monthly asset purchases.
AUD/USD was steady at 0.8958 during late Asian trade, not far from Wednesday's six-month low of 0.8948.
The pair was likely to find support at 0.8948 and resistance at 0.9049, the high of September 15.
In its monthly policy statement, the Fed reiterated that it expects rates to remain on hold for a "considerable time", after its bond purchasing program ends, but it also outlined in more detail how it will start to raise short term interest rates when the time comes.
The Fed cut its monthly asset purchase program by another $10 billion, keeping the program on track to finish next month.
Speaking at the bank’s post-policy meeting press conference Chair Janet Yellen stressed that the timing of any change in interest rates is dependent on the strength of the economic recovery.
The Aussie was lower against the New Zealand dollar, with AUD/NZD slipping 0.19% to 1.1040.
Also Thursday, official data showed that New Zealand second quarter gross domestic product rose by 0.7%, beating expectations for 0.6% growth and after a 1.0% rise in the three months to April.
Year-on-year, New Zealand's GDP increased by 3.9% in the last quarter, marking the fastest growth rate since the second quarter of 2004.
Later in the day, the U.S. was to produce reports on initial jobless claims, building permits, housing starts and manufacturing activity in the Philadelphia region.