Investing.com - The Australian dollar rose against its U.S. counterpart on Thursday, as market sentiment began to improve, while the New Zealand dollar slid lower amid growing expectations for a rate cut by the Reserve Bank of New Zealand at its next policy meeting.
AUD/USD rose 0.31% to 0.7495, easing off a two-and-a-half week low of 0.7455 hit overnight.
Market sentiment improved amid growing speculation major central banks around the world will introduce stimulus measures in order to boost economic growth.
On Thursday, investors were especially looking ahead to the European Central Bank’s policy statement, due later in the day.
Sentiment had weakened after the International Monetary Fund on Tuesday downwardly revised its projection for global economic growth in 2016 to 3.1%, from the prior 3.2%, though expecting a rebound to 3.4% in 2017.
NZD/USD slid 0.41% to trade at 0.6992, the lowest since June 28.
The kiwi was hit after the RBNZ said on Thursday that "further easing is likely", citing the currency’s current levels as an obstacle to meeting the central bank’s inflation target of between 1% and 3%.
The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, was down 0.08% at 97.08, still close to the previous session’s four-month high of 97.37.