Investing.com - The Australian dollar moved lower against its U.S. counterpart on Thursday, while the New Zealand dollar edged higher as markets were jittery after Wednesday’s mixed U.S. data and ahead of a meeting between U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping.
AUD/USD slid 0.34% to 0.7546, just off a three-and-a-half week low of 0.7532.
The greenback came under pressure after the Institute for Supply Management said on Wednesday that its index of non-manufacturing activity fell to 55.2 in March from February’s 57.6. It was the lowest since October 2016.
Separately, payroll processor ADP reported that the U.S. private sector created 263,000 new jobs in March, far more than the 187,000 which economists had expected.
NZD/USD rose 0.20% to trade at 0.6979.
Investors were also cautious ahead of what was expected to be a tense summit meeting between U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping later Thursday to discuss U.S.-China trade and security issues, including North Korea’s arms program.
The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, was down 0.09% at 100.37, after hitting a three-week high of 100.99 on Wednesday.