Investing.com - The Australian and New Zealand dollars fell against their U.S. counterpart on Wednesday, after the release of downbeat data from both Australia and New Zealand, while the greenback regained some ground following Tuesday’s upbeat housing sector report.
AUD/USD slipped 0.21% to 0.7598.
The Australian Bureau of Statistics reported on Wednesday that construction work done declined by 3.7% in the second quarter, disappointing expectations for a 1.9% fall. Construction work done slipped 0.3% in the first quarter, whose figure was revised from a previously estimated 2.6% drop.
NZD/USD edged down 0.16% to trade ar 0.7278.
Also Wednesday, Statistics New Zealand said the country’s trade balance swung into a deficit of NZ$433 million in July from a surplus of NZ$127 million the previous month. Analysts had expected the trade balance to fall into a deficit of NZ$350 million last month.
Meanwhile, the greenback remained supported after data on Tuesday showed that U.S. new home sales jumped by 12.4% to 654,000 units last month, compared to expectations for a 2.0% decline.
But investors remained cautious ahead of a speech by Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen scheduled on Friday.
Market participants are waiting to see if Yellen will restate the hawkish view of the economy expressed by Fed officials last week or echo the minutes of the Fed’s July meeting, which indicated that officials are divided on when to raise rates.
The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, was up 0.14% at 94.62.