Investing.com - The Australian dollar slipped lower against its U.S. counterpart on Monday, while the New Zealand dollar held steady as investors were still digesting the U.S. government shutdown.
AUD/USD edged down 0.14% to 0.7987.
The greenback initially weakened following the U.S. government shutdown at midnight on Friday after Democrats and Republicans failed to agree on a last-minute deal to fund government operations.
Republican and Democratic leaders of the U.S. Senate held talks on Sunday with hopes of breaking the impasse.
The U.S. dollar has been pressured lower in recent sessions amid concerns the global economic recovery will outpace U.S. growth and prompt other major central banks, including the European Central Bank to begin unwinding loose monetary policy at a faster pace.
NZD/USD was almost unchanged at 0.7276.
The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, was steady at 90.46 by 01:50 a.m. ET (05:50 GMT), not far from Friday's three-year low of 89.96.