Investing.com - The New Zealand dollar was higher against its U.S. counterpart on Wednesday, as Moody's decision not to downgrade Spain's credit rating broadly lifted market sentiment.
NZD/USD hit 0.8186 during European morning trade, the pair's highest since October 15; the pair subsequently consolidated at 0.8166, rising 0.29%.
The pair was likely to find support at 0.8131, the high of October 15 and resistance at 0.8210, the high of October 12.
Risk appetite strengthened after Moody’s confirmed Spain’s credit rating at Baaa3 with a negative outlook, just one notch above junk status and expressed confidence that reforms enacted by the Spanish government and support from the euro zone would ensure that Madrid had continued access to the credit market.
The yield on Spanish 10-year bonds fell to 5.53% following the announcement, the lowest level since April.
Market sentiment has been supported over recent weeks amid hopes that Spain will soon request a bailout from its euro zone partners, but uncertainty over the timing of a request and what form a bailout would take has persisted.
Elsewhere, the kiwi was fractionally lower against the Australian dollar with AUD/NZD inching up 0.08%, to hit 1.2629.
Also Wednesday, the Melbourne Institute said in a report that its leading index for Australia rose 0.5% in August, after a 0.3% increase the previous month.