Investing.com - The New Zealand dollar traded modestly lower against its U.S. rival during Thursday’s Asian session following the release of some strong building consents data for April.
In Asian trading Thursday, NZD/USD inched down 0.03% to 0.8097. The pair was likely to find support at 0.8034, the low of May 22 and an eight-month low and resistance at 0.8127, Tuesday's high.
Earlier Thursday, Statistics New Zealand said New Zealand's new building consents rose to a five-year high last month, good for a 19% gain. Excluding volatile apartment consents, the April reading still surged 13%.
More than 17,900 new construction permits worth NZD6.6 billion were issued for the year ending April 30, according to the data.
The data arrived after Reserve Bank of New Zealand Governor Graeme Wheeler was again heard making comments about the country’s housing market.
In a speech delivered earlier Thursday, Wheeler said "demand for housing could also be moderated by changing the tax treatment of housing to reduce its attractiveness as an investment to other assets."
RBNZ has refused to lower interest rates or engage in monetary easing as so many of its counterparts around the world have. In fact, Wheeler has not been shy about implying that should New Zealand’s property market show signs of overheating, interest rate increases could be on the table.
Most traders believe RBNZ will leave rates on hold this year with an eye toward an increase in the first quarter or early second quarter of 2014.
Meanwhile, NZD/JPY rose 0.26% to 82.11 while AUD/NZD fell 0.18% to 1.1881. EUR/NZD rose 0.09% to 1.5999.
In Asian trading Thursday, NZD/USD inched down 0.03% to 0.8097. The pair was likely to find support at 0.8034, the low of May 22 and an eight-month low and resistance at 0.8127, Tuesday's high.
Earlier Thursday, Statistics New Zealand said New Zealand's new building consents rose to a five-year high last month, good for a 19% gain. Excluding volatile apartment consents, the April reading still surged 13%.
More than 17,900 new construction permits worth NZD6.6 billion were issued for the year ending April 30, according to the data.
The data arrived after Reserve Bank of New Zealand Governor Graeme Wheeler was again heard making comments about the country’s housing market.
In a speech delivered earlier Thursday, Wheeler said "demand for housing could also be moderated by changing the tax treatment of housing to reduce its attractiveness as an investment to other assets."
RBNZ has refused to lower interest rates or engage in monetary easing as so many of its counterparts around the world have. In fact, Wheeler has not been shy about implying that should New Zealand’s property market show signs of overheating, interest rate increases could be on the table.
Most traders believe RBNZ will leave rates on hold this year with an eye toward an increase in the first quarter or early second quarter of 2014.
Meanwhile, NZD/JPY rose 0.26% to 82.11 while AUD/NZD fell 0.18% to 1.1881. EUR/NZD rose 0.09% to 1.5999.