Investing.com - The New Zealand dollar fell in early Asia on Thursday as the central bank held steady on rates as expected, but called for a weaker kiwi, while the dollar firmed on expectations for a Federal Reserve rate hike at the end of the year.
NZD/USD traded at 0.6688, down 0.19%, while AUD/USD changed hands at 0.7103, also down 0.19%. USD/JPY traded at 121.10, up 0.02%.
The Reserve Bank of New Zealand left the official cash rate unchanged at 2.75% as expected, but jawboned the currency lower by stating that lower interest rates would be required if the exchange rate remains high.
Ahead, Japan reports industrial output for September, with a fall of 0.5% expected month-on-month. In Australia comes HIA new home sales and the export and import price index.
The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, was up 0.03% at 97.71.
Overnight, the U.S. Federal Reserve kept interest rates unchanged on Wednesday and in a direct reference to its next policy meeting put a December rate hike firmly in play.
Investors had expected the Fed to remain pat on rates, but the overt reference to December came as a surprise.
Data on Tuesday showing that a key measure of U.S. business investment plans fell for a second straight month in September curtailed expectations for higher interest rates.
Orders for nondefense capital goods excluding aircraft, a proxy for company spending on equipment, fell 0.3% in September after a 1.6% decline in August.
Another report showed that U.S. consumer confidence declined this month.
Earlier Wednesday, the Mortgage Bankers Association said their mortgage market index, a measure of mortgage loan application volume, declined by 3.5% in the week ending October 23 to 417.4. That follows a gain of 11.8% to 432.7 in the preceding week.