The Australian dollar fell to the lowest in more than a week as Prime Minister Julia Gillard set an election on August 21, which analysts said will prompt the central bank to refrain from raising interest rates next month.

Australia's currency fell 0.3 percent to 86.66 U.S. cents as of 12:08 a.m. in Sydney and reached as low as 86.34 cents, the least since July 8. The currency declined 0.2 percent to 75.10 yen from last week in New York.

New Zealand's dollar slid 0.7 percent to 70.54 U.S. cents and bought 61.13 yen from 61.46.

Bloomberg TV said the so-called Aussie dollar also fell on the prospect that the central bank tomorrow releases minutes of a July 6 meeting when it said monetary policy was "appropriate," pending further information on demand and prices. Australia's statistics bureau will release inflation data on July 28.

New Zealand's dollar also slipped for a second day as the nation's Labour Department announced that that the jobless rate remains unchanged in the coming quarters.