Investing.com - The Australian and New Zealand dollars were higher against their U.S. counterpart on Tuesday, after the release of upbeat business confidence data from Australia and as lower expectations for a U.S. rate hike continued to weigh on the greenback.
AUD/USD gained 0.33% to a one-week high of 0.7620.
Earlier Tuesday, the National Australia Bank said its business confidence index rose to 6 in March from a reading of 3 the previous month.
NZD/USD edged up 0.22% to trade at 0.6873, the highest since April 4.
Meanwhile, the greenback remained under pressure on the view that the Federal Reserve will stick to a cautious approach on hiking interest rates this year amid concerns over the outlook for the global economy.
Lower interest rates make the dollar less attractive to yield seeking investors.
The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, was steady at 94.01, close to the previous session’s eight-month low of 93.74.