Investing.com - The New Zealand dollar fell against its U.S. counterpart on Monday, as demand for the greenback remained broadly supported by upbeat U.S. growth data and the Bank of Japan’s decision to adopt negative interest rates.
NZD/USD hit 0.6450 during late Asian trade, the pair’s lowest since February 28; the pair subsequently consolidated at 0.6467, slipping 0.25%.
The pair was likely to find support at 0.6417, the low of february 28 and resistance at 0.6557, the high of February 29.
The greenback remained supported after the BoJ’s unexpected decision to cut its deposit rate into negative territory as part of an ongoing effort to combat deflation.
The move highlighted the diverging monetary policy path between the Federal Reserve and other world central banks.
In addition, data on Friday showed that the U.S. economy grew at an annual rate of 0.7% in the fourth quarter, compared to forecasts for growth of 0.8% after 2% growth in the third quarter.
The U.S. economy grew 2.4% in 2015 the Commerce Department said, matching similar growth in 2014.
Meanwhile, data on Monday showed that China’s official manufacturing purchasing managers’ index ticked down to 49.4 in January from 49.7 the previous month, compared to expectations for a slip to 49.6.
China is New Zealand’s second biggest export partner.
The kiwi was steady against the Australian dollar, with AUD/NZD at 1.0927.