Investing.com - The Australian and New Zealand dollars were higher against the U.S. dollar on Wednesday, after positive New Zealand data and as sentiment on the greenback became fragile ahead of the Federal Reserve’s policy statement later in the day.
NZD/USD gained 0.47% to 0.7029.
Statistics New Zealand reported that the current account swung into a surplus of NZ$1.31 billion in the first quarter from a deficit of NZ$2.61 billion in the three months to December.
Analysts had expected the current account to swing into a surplus of NZ$1.05 billion in the last quarter.
AUD/USD rose 0.27% to trade at 0.7380.
The greenback found support after data on Tuesday showed that U.S. retail sales rose more-than-expected last month.
But sentiment on the greenback remained fragile ahead of the Fed’s highly-anticipated monetary policy statement due later in the day.
Markets have pushed back expectations on the timing of the next rate hike by the U.S. central bank after a dismal U.S. employment report for May, which showed the slowest rate of jobs growth since September 2010.
The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, was down 0.08% at 94.94, off a one-and-a-half week high of 95.15 hit overnight.