Investing.com - The Australian and New Zealand dollars moved lower against their U.S. counterpart on Tuesday, as expectations for a June rate hike in the U.S. continued to support the greenback and as declining oil prices weighed on the commodity currencies.
AUD/USD dropped 0.42% to 0.7194, close to last week’s two-and-a-half month lows of 0.7172.
The greenback remained broadly supported after the Federal Reserve’s April meeting minutes last Wednesday indicated that interest rates could rise as soon as June.
In a speech on Monday, San Francisco Fed President John Williams said he expects the U.S. central bank to increase rates two or three times this year, though he was concerned about the drop in inflation expectations.
The comments came after Boston Fed President Eric Rosengren said over the weekend that the U.S. was close to meeting most of the economic conditions necessary for the central bank to proceed with the tightening of monetary policy.
Elsewhere, Reserve Bank of Australia Governor Glenn Stevens warned on Tuesday that country’s next government faces a long and difficult task of budget repair.
He also said the next RBA governor will have to be facing significant challenges.
Stevens is set to be replaced in September by his current deputy Philip Lowe.
NZD/USD slid 0.59% to trade at 0.6722, just off a two-month trough of 0.6707 hit overnight.
The commodity currencies came under pressure as oil prices continued to decline on Tuesday, amid fresh concerns over a global supply glut.
The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, was steady at 95.28, hovering close to Friday’s three-week highs of 95.51.