The Australian and New Zealand dollars struggled to make much headway against the greenback on Wednesday as markets continued to fret about slower Chinese growth and how much of a drag that would be on the local economies. The Aussie stood at $1.0488, versus $1.0475 late in New York, still smarting after falling more than 1 percent on Tuesday.
The sell-down came after global miner BHP Billiton said it saw signs that growth in iron ore demand from China was slowing, though growth was still in the single-digits. The New Zealand dollar drifted up to $0.8186 from $0.8172 late in New York, having also trimmed earlier gains that saw it climb as high as $0.8214. It skidded about 1.2 percent on Tuesday and the focus was on whether it would close above $0.8197, the 55-day moving average. Traders said there was broad demand for the kiwi around $0.8150/60.