Home Daily Commentaries Kiwi steady ahead of Fed interest rate decision

Kiwi steady ahead of Fed interest rate decision

Daily Currency Update

NZD - New Zealand DollarThe Kiwi dollar is little changed this morning when valued against the Greenback reaching an overnight high of 0.6641. The New Zealand dollar so far this week has been treading water awaiting the US Central Bank monetary policy meeting later this week. The US Federal Reserve is expected to cut interest rates early Thursday, New Zealand time, by at least 25 basis points. It will be the first cut in more than a decade. Looking ahead today and we will see the release of Building Consents a leading gauge of future construction activity. On Wednesday we will see the release of ANZ Business Confidence a survey of about 1,500 businesses which asks respondents to rate the relative 12-month economic outlook. From a technical perspective, the NZD/USD pair is currently trading at 0.6631. We continue to expect support to hold on moves approaching 0.6610 while now any upward push will likely meet resistance around 0.6650.

Key Movers

On Monday the Greenback held near a two-month high against a basket of currencies ahead of what is expected to be the first U.S. interest rate cut since the financial crisis. The Federal Reserve is forecast to cut interest rates on Wednesday by 25 basis points. Overnight the US released the Dallas Fed Manufacturing Business Index, which resulted worse-than-anticipated, printing -6.3 in July, following a reading of -12.1 in June. Looking ahead tonight the U.S. will publish June Personal Spending and Personal Income, alongside the PCE inflation. The core PCE price index is expected at 1.7%, up from 1.6% in May.The Great British pound fell more than 1% against the Greenback overnight, to a 28-month low, as investors scrambled to factor in the growing risk of a no-deal Brexit and the chance that new British Prime Minister Boris Johnson will call an early election. The GBP/USD pair fell to an overnight low of 1.2211 a level that was last seen in March 2017. There are no scheduled macroeconomic data this Tuesday. From a technical perspective, the GBP/USD pair is currently trading at 1.2220. We continue to expect support to hold on moves approaching 1.2210 while now any upward push will likely meet resistance around 1.2250.

Expected Ranges

  • NZD/USD: 0.6500 - 0.6700 ▲
  • NZD/AUD: 0.9500 - 0.9700 ▲
  • GBP/NZD: 1.8300 - 1.8500 ▼
  • NZD/EUR: 0.5850 - 0.6050 ▼