Investing.com - The Australian and New Zealand dollars moved lower against their U.S. counterpart on Wednesday, as investors remained cautious due to declining oil prices and as markets awaited the release of U.S. economic reports due later in the day.
AUD/USD slid 0.32% to 0.7088.
Oil prices resumed their downward trend after a meeting between oil ministers from Saudi Arabia, Russia, Qatar and Venezuela on Tuesday ended with consensus to freeze output, disappointing hopes for production cuts.
In late Asian trade, crude oil futures for March delivery were back below $29 a barrel, after rising above $31 before the meeting on Tuesday.
NZD/USD edged down 0.16% to trade at 0.6570.
Investors were turning their attention to U.S. data on building permits, producer prices and industrial production, due later in the day, for further indications on the strength of the economy.
On Tuesday, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York said that its general business conditions index improved to -16.7 this month from a reading of -19.4 in January. Analysts had expected the index to rise to -10.0 in February.
The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, was down 0.18% at 96.73, off a seven-day high of 97.00 hit overnight.