Investing.com - The Australian and New Zealand dollars moved lower on Wednesday, as the greenback regained some ground following Tuesday’s disappointing U.S. data, although geopolitical tensions continued to weigh.
AUD/USD dropped 0.49% to 0.7522, the lowest since April 13.
The greenback weakened after the U.S. Commerce Department reported on Tuesday that housing starts fell in March, likely due to bad weather, while building permits rose.
A separate report showed that U.S. industrial production rose in line with economists’ forecasts in March, while manufacturing production unexpectedly fell.
Sentiment on the greenback also remained vulnerable as trade talks between the U.S. and Japan got underway this week, with markets awaiting indications of the direction U.S. trade policy could take under President Donald Trump, who campaigned on a protectionist platform.
Heightened tensions around North Korea, which has vowed to conduct more missile tests following Sunday's failed missile launch, also continued to weigh on the greenback.
U.S. Vice President Mike Pence said on Wednesday that Washington would work with its allies and China to put economic and diplomatic pressure on North Korea.
NZD/USD slipped 0.11% to trade ar 0.7034, off a three-week high of 0.7053 hit overnight.
The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, was up 0.17% at 99.58, just off the previous session’s three-week low of 99.36.