Investing.com - The New Zealand dollar dropped to five-month lows against its U.S. counterpart on Wednesday, as Tuesday's strong U.S. economic reports continued to lend strong support to the greenback.
NZD/USD hit 0.8373 during late Asian trade, the pair's lowest since March; the pair subsequently consolidated at 0.8405, shedding 0.15%.
The pair was likely to find support at 0.8344 and resistance at 0.8465, Tuesday's high.
The greenback strengthened broadly after data on Wednesday showed that U.S. housing starts jumped 15.7% in July, while the number of new permits granted to home-builders also accelerated, pointing to underlying strength in the housing sector.
The data offset a report showing that U.S. consumer prices rose just 0.1% in July.
The kiwi was lower against the Australian dollar, with AUD/NZD edging up 0.10% to 1.1061.
Also Wednesday, Reserve Bank of Australia Governor Glenn Stevens said the country's economy needs an injection of confidence rather than lower interest rates to stimulate growth, signaling that monetary policy will probably remain unchanged.
Later in the day, the Federal Reserve was to publish the minutes of its latest policy meeting.