Investing.com - The Australian dollar was almost unchanged against its U.S. counterpart on Wednesday, while the New Zealand dollar moved lower as demand for the greenback remained supported by Tuesday’s upbeat U.S. data.
AUD/USD was little changed at 1.7636.
The U.S. Consumer Board said its consumer confidence index rose to a nerly 17-year high of 125.6 in March from 116.1 the previous month, far above expectations of a reading of 114.
Market participants were looking ahead to U.S. data on pending home sales, due later in the day.
The greenback 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 slid 0.24% to trade at 0.6999, the lowest since March 24.
The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, was up 0.12% at 99.65, the highest since last Friday.