Investing.com – The New Zealand dollar was sharply lower against its U.S. counterpart on Wednesday, after the Federal Reserve’s rate statement saw investors trim back expectations for a fresh round of monetary easing by the central bank.
NZD/USD hit 0.8168 during late Asian trade, the pair’s lowest since Monday; the pair subsequently consolidated at 0.8172, shedding dropping 0.72%.
The pair was likely to find support at 0.8135, Monday’s low and resistance at 0.8245, Tuesday’s high.
In its rate statement on Tuesday, the Federal Reserve said it expects “moderate economic growth” and acknowledged the recent improvement in the labor market, saying it expected the unemployment rate to “decline gradually.”
However, policymakers reiterated their intention to keep the benchmark interest rate unchanged at a record low through late 2014 and warned that risks to the economic recovery still remained.
The kiwi was also lower against the yen and the Australian dollar, with NZD/JPY shedding 0.39% to hit 68.01 and AUD/NZD adding 0.37% to hit 1.2860.
Earlier Wednesday, a report showed that Australian consumer confidence slumped in March, as uncertainty over the global economic outlook weighed and as major banks raised mortgage rates, despite two successive rate cuts by the country’s central bank late last year.
NZD/USD hit 0.8168 during late Asian trade, the pair’s lowest since Monday; the pair subsequently consolidated at 0.8172, shedding dropping 0.72%.
The pair was likely to find support at 0.8135, Monday’s low and resistance at 0.8245, Tuesday’s high.
In its rate statement on Tuesday, the Federal Reserve said it expects “moderate economic growth” and acknowledged the recent improvement in the labor market, saying it expected the unemployment rate to “decline gradually.”
However, policymakers reiterated their intention to keep the benchmark interest rate unchanged at a record low through late 2014 and warned that risks to the economic recovery still remained.
The kiwi was also lower against the yen and the Australian dollar, with NZD/JPY shedding 0.39% to hit 68.01 and AUD/NZD adding 0.37% to hit 1.2860.
Earlier Wednesday, a report showed that Australian consumer confidence slumped in March, as uncertainty over the global economic outlook weighed and as major banks raised mortgage rates, despite two successive rate cuts by the country’s central bank late last year.