Investing.com - The Australian and New Zealand dollars moved lower against their U.S. counterpart on Wednesday, as investors remained cautious following a nearly three-day rout in global equities and eyed the Reserve Bank of New Zealand's upcoming policy statement.
AUD/USD slid 0.39% to 0.7874, hovering close to the previous session's three-and-a-half week trough of 0.7836.
Market sentiment waned after global equity markets began to plunge on Friday following the release of strong U.S. employment data, which sparked concerns over rising inflation, sending bond yields sharply higher.
The Dow Jones Industrials index was particularly hit on Monday, when it recorded its worst daily point drop in history.
However, U.S. equities rebounded on Tuesday, leading to a downward turn in the greenback, which had benefited from Wall Street's sharp decline.
NZD/USD dropped 0.41% to trade at 0.7313, not far from Tuesday's two-week low of 0.7261.
Market participants were looking ahead to the RBNZ's monthly policy decision, due early Thursday. The central bank was expected to leave interest rates on hold at 1.75%.
Investors will especially be focusing on the RBNZ's policy statement for potential indications on the central bank's future policy moves.
The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, was down 0.10% at 89.44 by 02:10 a.m. ET (06:10 GMT), off the two-week peak of 89.92 reached on Tuesday.