Investing.com - The Kiwi fell on Wednesday after consumer prices entered negative territory while surveys in Australia and Japan also showed weaker views on the economy.
NZD/USD traded at 0.6383, down 0.48%, while AUD/USD changed hands at 0.6904, down 0.05% and USD/JPY was quoted at 117.51, down 0.11%.
New Zealand said fourth quarter CPI fell 0.5% quarter-on-quarter, well below the 0.2% drop expected, while it rose 0.1% on a year-on-year basis, compared to a gain of 0.4% expected, placing the country on the cusp of deflation.
In Australia, the Westpac Consumer Sentiment gauge fell 3.5% in January, a drop down from a decline of 0.8% in December. The Reuters Tankan Index in Japan fell to 6 in January from 9 in December.
The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, was flat at 99.17.
Overnight, the dollar was little changed against the other major currencies on Tuesday, as the greenback remained mildly supported after data showed that a slowdown in China’s fourth-quarter growth matched expectations and the International Monetary Fund cut its global growth forecast.
Official figures showed that the annual rate of growth in China’s economy slowed to 6.8% in the three months to December from 6.9% in the previous quarter, matching forecasts.
Full-year growth was 6.9%, slightly below the government’s target of 7% and the slowest rate of growth in a quarter century.
Overall the data indicated that the world’s second-largest economy is continuing to lose momentum, after falls in the nation’s currency earlier this year fueled fears over a China-led slowdown in global growth.
The reports came shortly before the IMF cut its global growth forecast to 3.4% for this year and 3.6% in 2017.