Investing.com - The Australian dollar edged higher against its U.S. counterpart on Monday, while the New Zealand dollar slid lower as markets were still digesting Friday’s downbeat U.S. economic reports.
AUD/USD added 0.17% to 0.7658.
The greenback weakened broadly after the U.S. Commerce Department said on Friday that retail sales were flat in July, compared expectations for a 0.4% rise. Core retail sales, which exclude automobile sales, fell by 0.3% in July.
A separate report showed that U.S. producer prices fell by 0.4% last month, disappointing expectations for a 0.1% rise. Year-over-year, producer prices decreased by 0.2%.
In addition, the University of Michigan said its consumer sentiment index rose to 90.4, from July’s reading of 90.0. Analysts had forecast a larger increase to 91.5.
The downbeat data fueled concerns over the strength of the U.S. economy and dampened expectations for a 2016 rate hike by the Federal Reserve.
NZD/USD slid 0.36% to trade ar 0.7175, off four-day lows of 0.7166 hit overnight.
The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, was little changed at 95.68, after hitting a one-and-a-half week low of 95.19 on Friday.