On Wednesday the Australian and the New Zealand dollars slipped against their U.S. counterpart, as investors were jittery on hopes for the soon U.S. rate hike, though trading remained calm ahead of
Friday's U.S. nonfarm payrolls report.
NZD/USD hit 0.6518 during late Asian trade, the session low; the pair subsequently consolidated at 0.6523, giving up 0.21%.
Statistics New Zealand said earlier Wednesday that the number of employed people rose by 0.3% in the second quarter, disappointing expectations for a 0.5% rise, after an increase of 0.7% in the three months to March.
The report also signaled that New Zealand's unemployment rate rose to 5.9% in the last quarter from 5.8% in the first quarter of 2015, in line with expectations.
In Australia, the July AIGroup Services Index jumped to a surprise 54.1 from a June move into expansion at 51.2.
The Australian dollar, however, was weaker with AUD/USD lower 0.53% to 0.7341.
Meanwhile, investors continued to eye the U.S. government nonfarm payrolls report, due to be released on Friday. Analysts expect the report to show jobs growth of 215,000 last month. Monthly jobs gains above 200,000 are seen by economists as consistent with strong employment growth.
