Investing.com - The Australian dollar slipped lower against its U.S. counterpart on Thursday, but losses were expected to remain limited as the Federal Reserve's latest policy statement dented demand for the greenback.
AUD/USD hit 0.7711 during early European trade, the session low; the pair subsequently consolidated at 0.7740, down 0.10%.
The pair was likely to find support at 0.7641, Wednesday's low and resistance at 0.7782, the high of June 16.
The greenback came under pressure after the Federal Reserve lowered both its U.S. growth forecast and its interest-rate projections, prompting investors to push back expectations on the timing of an initial rate hike.
Fed Chair Janet Yellen said the central bank wanted to see "more decisive evidence" of sustained growth before raising rates, but acknowledged that the economy has "expanded moderately" after a weak first quarter.
The Aussie was sharply higher against the New Zealand dollar, with AUD/NZD up 1.25% to 1.1227.
The kiwi came under broad selling pressure after Statistics New Zealand reported on Thursday that the country's gross domestic product rose by 0.2% in the first quarter, confounding expectations for an increase of 0.6%, following a growth rate of 0.8% in the last three months of 2014.
Year-on-year, New Zealand GDP rose by 2.6% in the three months to March, less than the expected 3.0% increase and after a growth rate of 3.5% in the fourth quarter of 2014.