Investing.com - The Australian and New Zealand dollars slipped lower against their U.S. counterpart on Thursday, as the greenback remained supported by the release of upbeat U.S. data earlier in the week.
AUD/USD edged down 0.20% to 0.7655.
The greenback remained supported after the U.S. National Association of Realtors said on Wednesday that its pending home sales increased by 5.5% last month, more than doubling expectations for an increase of 2.4%.
The data came a day after the U.S. Consumer Board said its consumer confidence index rose to a nearly 17-year high of 125.6 in March from 116.1 the previous month, far above expectations of a reading of 114.
The U.S. dollar was also boosted after Chicago Federal Bank President Charles Evans and Dallas Fed President Robert Kaplan on Monday suggested that the U.S. central bank will continue its monetary tightening cycle.
NZD/USD slipped 0.17% to trade at 0.7019.
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 99.89, just off a one-and-a-half week high of 99.99.