Investing.com - The Australian dollar dropped to four-and-a-half year lows against its U.S. counterpart on Wednesday, as markets were jittery ahead of the Federal Reserve's upcoming policy statement, while the minutes of the Reserve Bank of Australia latest meeting continued to weigh.
AUD/USD hit 0.8141 during late Asian trade, the pair's lowest since June 2010; the pair subsequently consolidated at 0.8158, declining 0.75%.
The pair was likely to find support at 0.8086 and resistance at 0.8275, Tuesday's high.
Investors remained cautious ahead of the Fed’s policy statement due later in the day, as ongoing speculation over the prospects for a U.S. rate hike next year have fuelled expectations that the U.S. central bank could adjust its forward guidance.
Meanwhile, the Australian dollar remained under pressure after the minutes of the RBA's December policy meeting released on Tuesday showed that board members will continue to hold interest rates at record lows for an extended period of time.
The Aussie was higher against the New Zealand dollar, with AUD/NZD adding 0.18% to 1.0557.
Also Wednesday, Statistics New Zealand reported that the current account deficit widened to NZ$5.01 billion in the third quarter from NZ$1.08 billion in the three months to June. Analysts had expected the current account deficit to widen to NZ$5.32 billion in the last quarter.
Later in the day, the U.S. was to release data on consumer inflation and the current account.