Investing.com - The Australian and New Zealand dollars moved lower against their U.S. counterpart on Monday, as declining oil prices weighed on the commodity currencies, although sentiment on the greenback remained fragile after Friday’s downbeat U.S. data.
AUD/USD dropped 0.88% to 0.7658.
Oil prices plummeted Iran decided not to attend this weekend’s meeting in Qatar to discuss a potential production freeze.
Iran's oil minister Bijan Zanganeh said on Saturday that a production freeze will not help the country benefit from the lifting of international sanctions.
In response, Saudi Arabia vowed not to freeze production unless other major producers did the same.
NZD/USD eased 0.08% to 0.6912.
Earlier Monday, data showed that New Zealand’s consumer price index rose 0.2% in the first quarter, compared to expectations for an uptick of 0.1%, after a 0.5% fall.
Year-on-year, consumer prices increased by 0.4%, in line with expectations.
The greenback remained under pressure after reports showing that U.S. industrial production fell more than expected in March and consumer sentiment deteriorated slightly this month.
The reports underlined the view that the Federal Reserve is likely to stick to a cautious approach on future interest rates increases.
The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, was steady at 94.72.