Investing.com - The Australian dollar was steady against its U.S. counterpart on Thursday, trading near three-and-a-half year lows as news the Federal Reserve will begin scaling back its stimulus program next month sent the greenback broadly higher.
AUD/USD hit 0.8823 during late Asian trade, the pair's lowest since August 2010; the pair subsequently consolidated at 0.8857, easing 0.04%.
The pair was likely to find support at 0.8772 and resistance at 0.8944, Wednesday's high.
The Fed announced Wednesday that it would reduce its USD85 billion-a-month bond buying program by USD10 billion in January. In his last press conference as Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke said the economy was continuing to make progress.
The U.S. central bank reiterated that interest rates are likely to remain low even after the unemployment rate drops below 6.5%, the threshold at which the Fed has previously said it would start to consider rate increases.
The Aussie was higher against the New Zealand dollar, with AUD/NZD climbing 0.53% to 1.0812.
Also Thursday, official data showed that New Zealand gross domestic product rose 1.4% in the third quarter, beating expectations for a 1.1% expansion, after an upwardly revised 0.3% increase in the three months to June.
Later in the day, the U.S. was to publish data on existing home sales, manufacturing activity in the Philadelphia region and initial jobless claims.
AUD/USD hit 0.8823 during late Asian trade, the pair's lowest since August 2010; the pair subsequently consolidated at 0.8857, easing 0.04%.
The pair was likely to find support at 0.8772 and resistance at 0.8944, Wednesday's high.
The Fed announced Wednesday that it would reduce its USD85 billion-a-month bond buying program by USD10 billion in January. In his last press conference as Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke said the economy was continuing to make progress.
The U.S. central bank reiterated that interest rates are likely to remain low even after the unemployment rate drops below 6.5%, the threshold at which the Fed has previously said it would start to consider rate increases.
The Aussie was higher against the New Zealand dollar, with AUD/NZD climbing 0.53% to 1.0812.
Also Thursday, official data showed that New Zealand gross domestic product rose 1.4% in the third quarter, beating expectations for a 1.1% expansion, after an upwardly revised 0.3% increase in the three months to June.
Later in the day, the U.S. was to publish data on existing home sales, manufacturing activity in the Philadelphia region and initial jobless claims.