New Zealand dollar continues to trade around US$0.60 

Key Movers

Overnight the Pound sterling had a mild recovery against the Greenback in the mid-North American session, as the Greenback remains offered amid speculations the Federal Reserve (Fed) would cut rates in June. At its March meeting last week, the Fed held the benchmark rate to the 5.25%-5.5% range.

After that meeting, Fed Chairman Jerome Powell emphasized that policymakers are likely to cut interest rates later this year. Still, only once they have greater confidence that inflation is moving toward its 2% target. At the time of writing, the GBP/USD trades at 1.2635. gains 0.32%.

On the data front, US housing data was weaker than expected as New Home Sales slumped 0.3%, with sales coming at 0.662 million, below estimates of  0.675 million and January’s 0.664 million. Elsewhere, the Chicago Fed announced the National Activity Index saw improvement, moving from -0.54 to 0.05, with positive developments across all four index categories. The tiny decline registered was likely owed to an uptick in mortgage rates during the month.

According to Freddie Mac, the average 30-year mortgage rate rose to 6.8% in February from 6.6% the month prior. Moving forward, a structural shortfall of available single-family homes as well as home builders' ability to bridge the affordability gap with price incentives should continue as tailwinds and support an improving sales pace this year.