Among the world’s major currencies, the New Zealand Dollar, or Kiwi as it’s called among traders, was the primary mover. That came after New Zealand’s Prime Minister said that he was concerned about the scope of the Kiwi Dollar’s recent decline. Very recently, the New Zealand Dollar and its counterpart, the Australian Dollar, were hit hard in Asia trading as the divergence of monetary policies among the US Federal Reserve Bank and the Reserve Banks of Australia and New Zealand became clearer. The Fed is prepared to embark on a tighter policy while the RNBZ and RBA are ready for further easing. Indeed, a recent survey is forecasting that the RBNZ will be lowering rates at this week’s policy meeting.
As reported at 11:25 am (BDT) in London, the NZD/USD was trading at $0.6577, a gain of 0.86%; the pair has ranged from $0.6504 at the low to $0.6602 at the high. The AUD/USD was up marginally at $0.7376, a gain of 0.4%; the day’s low was set at $0.7327 while the high was $0.7398.
Dollar Broadly Higher
In the US, the US Dollar Index rose to a 3-month peak trading at 98.048 .DXY, a gain of 0.19%. The day range for the Dollar Index is 97.75 and 98.09 DXY. Upbeat economic data, specifically US housing and CPI, helped to lift the greenback. The Federal Reserve Chairman had recently said that a rate hike would probably not occur until later this year.
