Investing.com - The New Zealand central bank held the overnight cash rate steady at 3.5% on Thursday, moving to a neutral monetary stance on an assessment that inflation will remain subdued and as the Federal Reserve also signaled "solid" growth and investors speculating that meant interest rates will remain steady until probably the second half of this year.
"In the current circumstances, we expect to keep the OCR on hold for some time. Future interest rate adjustments, either up or down, will depend on the emerging flow of economic data," said Governor Graeme Wheeler in a statement.
NNZD/USD traded at 0.7331, up 0.22%, after the statement, while AUD/USD was flat at 0.7887, and USD/JPY changed hands at 117.52, down 0.03%.
Also in New Zealand, December trade data showed a deficit of NZ$159 million month-on-month, wider than a deficit of NZ$27 million expected.
In Japan, December retail sales rose 0.2% year-on-year, compared to a gain of 0.9% expected.
At 1130 in Sydney (0030 GMT), the fourth quarter import price index & export price index is due.
Overnight, the Federal Reserve said it would be "patient" on raising rates as they looked past the urgent moves made by other central banks this month to boost their struggling economies.
Markets were still jittery amid concerns over Syriza’s pledge to renegotiate the terms of Greece's €240 billion international bailout, which could cause the country to leave the euro zone.
The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, was down 0.04% at 94.85.