Investing.com – The New Zealand dollar trimmed gains against its U.S. counterpart on Monday, as New Zealand’s government outlined the preliminary costs of the earthquake that struck the nations second largest city, Christchurch, last week.
NZD/USD retreated from 0.7554, the pair’s highest since February 22, to hit 0.7525 during late Asian trade, gaining 0.11%.
The pair was likely to find support at 0.7468, Friday’s low and resistance at 0.764, Friday’s high.
New Zealand's Finance Minister Bill English said economic growth in the first half of 2011 would be lower than forecast, as would tax revenue.
He said that preliminary estimates from the Treasury indicated that the total cost of the latest earthquake is likely to be 2-3 times the NZD5 billion estimated cost of the September 4 earthquake in the city. The Treasury is expected to provide a more detailed analysis of costs later in the week.
Markets were closely watching the Reserve Bank of New Zealand amid expectations that the bank could announce an emergency interest rate cut to help the economy recover from the earthquake.
The kiwi was slightly lower against the euro, with EUR/NZD easing up 0.03% to hit 1.8293.
Earlier in the day, official data showed that New Zealand had its first trade surplus in seven months in January, while a separate report showed that New Zealand business confidence improved before last week's earthquake.
NZD/USD retreated from 0.7554, the pair’s highest since February 22, to hit 0.7525 during late Asian trade, gaining 0.11%.
The pair was likely to find support at 0.7468, Friday’s low and resistance at 0.764, Friday’s high.
New Zealand's Finance Minister Bill English said economic growth in the first half of 2011 would be lower than forecast, as would tax revenue.
He said that preliminary estimates from the Treasury indicated that the total cost of the latest earthquake is likely to be 2-3 times the NZD5 billion estimated cost of the September 4 earthquake in the city. The Treasury is expected to provide a more detailed analysis of costs later in the week.
Markets were closely watching the Reserve Bank of New Zealand amid expectations that the bank could announce an emergency interest rate cut to help the economy recover from the earthquake.
The kiwi was slightly lower against the euro, with EUR/NZD easing up 0.03% to hit 1.8293.
Earlier in the day, official data showed that New Zealand had its first trade surplus in seven months in January, while a separate report showed that New Zealand business confidence improved before last week's earthquake.