Investing.com - The New Zealand dollar fell to five-week lows against its U.S. counterpart on Wednesday, as expectations for a U.S. rate hike continued to boost the greenback and as investors eyed the Reserve Bank of New Zealand's policy statement due on Thursday.
NZD/USD hit 0.7231 during late Asian trade, the pair's lowest since February 3; the pair subsequently consolidated at 0.7257, shedding 0.21%.
The pair was likely to find support at 0.7174, the low of February 3 and resistance at 0.7361, Tuesday's high.
The greenback remained broadly supported after the latest U.S. jobs report heigthened expectations for higher interest rates.
The Federal Reserve is expected to begin raising interest rates around the middle of this year and investors were looking ahead to next week’s policy statement to see if it would drop its reference to being patient before raising rates.
The RBNZ was widely expected to leave its benchmark interest rate on hold at 3.50% on Thursday.
The kiwi was lower against the Australian dollar, with AUD/NZD up 0.11% to 1.0492.
Also Wednesday, the Westpac Banking Corporation earlier reported that Australia's consumer sentiment fell 1.2% this month, after an increase of 8.0% in February.
Separately, the Australian Bureau of Statistics said that home loans dropped 3.5% in January, compared to expectations for a 2.0% fall, after a 2.7% rise the previous month.