Investing.com - The Australian and New Zealand dollars slid lower against their U.S. counterpart on Monday, as markets paused after the greenback lost ground on Friday when China’s central bank lifted the fixed rate of the yuan.
AUD/USD dropped 0.41% to 0.7534, pulling away from Friday’s eight-month high of 0.7594.
China’s central bank boosted the fixed rate of the yuan following a sharp rally in the euro on Thursday, after ECB President Mario Draghi appeared to indicate that the bank would not cut interest rates deeper into negative territory.
The move boosted commodity prices and the commodity linked currencies, sending the dollar broadly lower.
NZD/USD slid 0.34% to trade at 0.6719.
Investors were eyeing a speech by Reserve Bank of New Zealand Governor Graeme Wheeler due later in the day.
The RBNZ surprised markets last week by lowering its benchmark interest rate to 2.25% from 2.50% at its monthly policy meeting. Analysts had expected the central bank to leave rates unchanged.
The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, was steady at 96.29, not far from Friday’s one-month low of 95.94.