Investing.com - The Australian and New Zealand dollars strengthened against their U.S. counterpart on Monday, but gains were expected to remain limited as Friday’s upbeat U.S. retail sales report supported the view that the Federal Reserve is likely to stay on a tightening path.
AUD/USD advanced 0.76% to 0.7162, the highest since February 5.
The Commerce Department saidon Friday that retail sales rose 0.2% last month, beating expectations for an increase of 0.1%.
Retail figures used to calculate gross domestic product, which exclude cars, fuel, building materials and food services, rose 0.6% in January after a 0.3% fall in the previous month.
NZD/USD climbed 0.75% to trade at 0.6674.
The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, was up 0.32% at 96.30.