Oil prices dropped earlier this week after the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and allies, known as OPEC+, agreed to gradually ease oil output cuts from May.
The survey's headline measure showed a net 11.8% of respondents expected the economy to improve over the year ahead compared with a net 9.4% in the previous poll in December last year.
New Zealand's benchmark S&P/NZX 50 index was trading nearly flat at 13,040.11, even after data showed the island nation's fourth-quarter jobless rate dropped to 4.9%, beating analyst forecasts.
Biden's pick for Treasury Secretary, Janet Yellen, is expected to rule out seeking a weaker dollar when testifying on Capital Hill on Tuesday, the Wall Street Journal reported.
Some analysts also cautioned that a recent rebound in COVID-19 cases in the northeast of the country could impact activity and consumption in the run-up to next month's long Lunar New Year holidays.
The Aussie stood at $0.7616 having climbed 1.1% for the week to touch $0.7639. That was the highest since June 2018 when it topped at $0.7677, the next major chart target.
Nickel, used in stainless steel, has gained 13% in the Shanghai bourse this year, while LME nickel has risen around 23% on strong demand from Chinese stainless steel producers and a supply crunch due to an Indonesian export ban.
The Bank of Thailand (BOT) on Wednesday said it stepped in to slow volatility in the baht so that it would not derail economic recovery, after the currency strengthened to a one-year high of 29 baht per US dollar.
Against a basket of currencies the dollar sat at 90.923, which is about half a percent above a two-and-a-half-year low it hit on Friday as short sellers piled in.