Investing.com - The New Zealand dollar hit a fresh seven-month trough against its U.S. counterpart on Monday, as mounting expectations for an early U.S. rate hike continued to lend broad support to the greenback.
NZD/USD hit 0.8124 during late Asian trade, the pair's lowest since February; the pair subsequently consolidated at 0.8143, slipping 0.11%.
The pair was likely to find support at 0.8048 and resistance at 0.8196, Friday's high.
Demand for the greenback continued to be underpinned by expectations for an early hike in U.S. interest rates.
The Fed was expected to cut its asset purchase program by another $10 billion at its upcoming policy meeting on Wednesday, which would keep it on track for winding up the program in October, and to start raising interest rates sometime in mid-2015.
Separately, data over the weekend showed that Chinese factory output and retail sale growth slowed in August, adding to concerns over a slowdown in the world’s second largest economy.
China is New Zealand's second biggest export partner.
The kiwi was higher against the Australian dollar, with AUD/NZD shedding 0.32% to 1.1046.
Also Monday, official data showed that Australia's new motor vehicle sales declined by 1.8% last month, after a 1.3% drop in July.
Later in the day, the U.S. was to release reports on manufacturing activity in the Empire State and industrial production.