Investing.com - The Australian dollar slipped lower against its U.S. counterpart on Thursday, despite the release of upbeat Australian data, while the New Zealand dollar held steady in cautious trade amid declining oil prices and ahead of fresh economic reports from the U.S.
AUD/USD slid 0.32% to 0.7174.
The Australian Bureau of Statistics reported on Thursday that private capital expenditure rose by 0.8% in the fourth quarter, compared to expectations for a 3.0% decline. Private capital expenditure dropped 8.4% in the third quarter, whose figure was revised from a previously estimated 9.2% decline.
NZD/USD was little changed at 0.6662.
Sentiment on the greenback remained fragile after data on Wednesday showed that new home sales fell far more-than-expected last month.
Separately, Richmond Federal Reserve President Jeffrey Lacker said on Wednesday that the case for a rate hike was bolstered by recent data and that the U.S. central bank should concentrate on fostering economic growth via its control of inflation.
The comments came after Fed Vice-Chairman Stanley Fischer said that Fed officials " simply do not know" what course of action they will take at their next meeting in March.
The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, was down 0.09% at 97.41, off the previous session’s three-week high of 97.92.