Investing.com - The Australian fell to four-month lows against its U.S. counterpart on Monday, while the New Zealand dollar held steady, as markets digested comments by Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen made on Friday.
AUD/USD slipped 0.21% to 0.7548, the lowest since August 2.
At the Jackson Hole symposium on Friday, Fed Chair Janet Yellen said the case for U.S. interest rate hikes has “strengthened” in recent months due to improvements in the labor market and to expectations for solid economic growth.
However, she did not indicate when the Fed would act, saying that higher interest rates will depend on incoming economic data.
Speaking shortly afterwards, Fed Vice Chair Stanley Fischer said Yellen’s speech was “consistent” with expectations for possibly two more rate hikes this year, opening the door to a September hike.
NZD/USD was little changed at 0.7240, off one-week lows of 0.7210 hit earlier in the day.
The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, was steady at 95.50, close to Friday’s two-week high of 95.58.