Investing.com - The Australian and New Zealand dollars moved lower against their U.S. counterpart on Wednesday, after weak inflation data from Australia and as demand for the greenback remained broadly supported.
AUD/USD declined 0.66% to 0.7532, the lowest since January 20.
Earlier Wednesday, the Australian Bureau of Statistics reported that the consumer price index rose 0.5% in the fourth quarter of 2016, disappointing expectations for an increase of 0.7%.
Year-on-year, consumer prices gained 1.5% in the last quarter, less than the expected 1.6% rise.
NZD/USD slid 0.29% to trade at 0.7228, off the previous session’s two-and-a-half month high of 0.7279.
Meanwhile, the greenback remained mildly supported on Wednesday morning, despite ongoing concerns over new U.S. President Donald Trump’s protectionist policies.
The U.S. dollar had broadly weakened after Trump on Monday formally withdrew the U.S. from the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade accord, distancing America from its Asian allies.
He has also said he intends to renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement between the U.S., Canada and Mexico, in order to better serve U.S. interests.
The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, was up 0.11% at 100.37, after hitting a six-week low of 99.89 on Tuesday.