Investing.com - The Australian and New Zealand dollars moved higher against their U.S. counterpart on Tuesday, after the Reserve Bank of Australia lowered expectations for a rate cut and as rising oil prices continued to support the commodity currencies.
AUD/USD gained 0.78% to 0.7346.
The minutes of the RBA’s May policy meeting revealed that board members were reluctant to lower interest rates, signaling that there is little chance for more rate cuts to come.
The minutes said that members had "discussed the merits of adjusting policy or awaiting further information before acting".
The central bank surprised markets on May 3 by lowering tje benchmark interest rate to a record-low 1.75%.
NZD/USD rose 0.24% to trade at 0.6806.
The Reserve Bank of New Zealand said on Tuesday that its inflation expectations for the next two years remained unchanged at 1.6% in the first quarter.
Meanwhile, the commodity currencies remained supported by a sharp rally in oil prices sparked after Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS) said on Monday that the market shifted into deficit in May due to falling production.
The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, was steady at 94.49, not far from Friday’s three-week high of 94.84.