Investing.com - The Australian and New Zealand dollars slipped lower against their U.S. counterpart on Wednesday, after the release of downbeat Australian data and as declining oil prices dampened demand for the commodity-related currencies.
AUD/USD edged down 0.11% to 0.7196.
The Australian Bureau of Statistics reported on Wednesday that construction work done dropped 3.6% in the fourth quarter, compared to expectations for a 2.0% decline. Construction work done fell by 1.8% in the third quarter, whose figure was revised from a previously estimated 3.6% slide.
A separate report showed that Australia’s wage price index ticked up by 0.5% in the fourth quarter, disappointing expectations for a 0.6% rise, after an increase of 0.6% in the three months to September.
NZD/USD fell 0.27% to trade at 0.6626.
Markets were jittery as oil prices slipped below $32 a barel on Wednesday after Saudi Arabia’s oil minister said that production cuts "will not happen".
Separately, Iran also said it had no interest in reducing production after international sanctions against it were lifted, calling a joint Russian/Saudi proposal for major exporters to freeze output "laughable".
The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, was up 0.08% at 97.54, close to Monday’s two-and-a-half week high of 97.61.