Investing.com - The Australian dollar slid lower against its U.S. counterpart on Tuesday, as markets were jittery ahead of congressional testimony by Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen later in the day.
AUD/USD hit 0.7762 during late Asian trade, the pair's lowest since February 19; the pair subsequently consolidated at 0.7769, shedding 0.44%.
The pair was likely to find support at 0.7720, the low of February 13 and resistance at 0.7845, Monday's high.
Investors remained cautious as Fed Chair Janet Yellen was to testify before the Senate Banking Committee in Washington later Tuesday, with market participants watching for any indication on when U.S. interest rates may start to rise.
Last week’s minutes of the Fed’s January meeting were more dovish than expected, showing that some officials thought that raising rates too soon could weigh on the U.S. economic recovery, and that a deterioration in the global economic outlook could also pose a threat.
The Aussie was higher against the New Zealand dollar, with AUD/NZD gaining 0.43% to 1.0413.
Also Tuesday, the Reserve Bank of New Zealand said its inflation expectations for the next two years fell to 1.8% in the fourth quarter of 2014 from 2.1% in the three months to September.