Aussie and kiwi underperform as USD rises

AUD rose in early Sydney to as high as 0.7645 before falling to trade with a 0.75 handle. It then failed to recover, and slipped to as low as 0.7589 in late Sydney - fresh lows back to 2009 - and struggled to trade back above 0.7600.
 
The Westpac-MI consumer sentiment index was down 1.2%, and owner-occupier home loans fell more than expected. RBA's Kent spoke on the economy, but there was not much for markets to react to. 

Westpac notes in a report on Wednesday:

• NZD fell from 0.7298 to 0.7231, keeping AUD/NZD trading around 1.0475 to 1.0500 most of the session. EUR/USD traded up to 1.0717 in early Sydney, but it was unable to hold on to gains, slipping to lows of 1.0666. 
  
  
• USD/JPY bounced off 120.85 to trade to 121.50, while the Nikkei retraced some of the previous day's losses, up 0.8%.
   
• USD/CHF consolidated and continued to push against resistance at 1.0000. Crude pared losses, with Brent up 0.8%.