Australian, NZ Dollars Strengthen Against Majors

The Australian and NZ dollars appreciated against their major counterparts in the Asian session on Thursday, as soft U.S. inflation data cemented hopes of further fiscal stimulus and Fed Chair Jerome Powell asserted to keep monetary policy accommodative to spur the economy and job growth.

U.S. core inflation was unchanged in January, data showed on Wednesday, down from expectations for an increase of 0.2 percent.

Powell told the Economic Club of New York that the monetary policy required to remain accommodative, citing a weak labor market.

The Fed chief reiterated that the central bank's new policy framework could allow annual inflation to rise above 2 percent for some time before hiking rates.

Data from Statistics New Zealand showed that New Zealand electronic card transactions fell a seasonally adjusted 0.4 percent on month or NZ$24 million in January - following the 19.2 percent spike in December.

Spending in the core retail industries slipped 0.7 percent on month or NZ$39 million.

The aussie advanced to 0.7751 against the greenback and 81.06 against the yen, off its early 2-day lows of 0.7713 and 80.67, respectively. The aussie is poised to find resistance around 0.82 against the greenback and 84.00 against the yen.

The aussie climbed to a 2-day high of 1.5649 against the euro, from a 3-day low of 1.5708 set at 7:30 pm ET. On the upside, 1.54 is possibly seen as its next resistance level.

Reversing from its early low of 1.0691 against the kiwi and a 3-day low of 0.9799 against the loonie, the aussie edged higher to 1.0717 and 0.9830, respectively. The aussie is seen finding resistance around 1.09 against the kiwi and 1.00 against the loonie.

The kiwi firmed to 0.7234 against the greenback, 1.6767 against the euro and 75.64 against the yen, recovering from its early lows of 0.7205 and 1.6818 and a 6-day low 75.36, respectively. The kiwi may find resistance around 0.74 against the greenback, 1.66 against the euro and 78.00 against the yen.

Looking ahead, the U.S. weekly jobless claims for the week ended February 6 will be featured in the New York session.