Investing.com - The New Zealand and Australian dollars declined against their U.S. counterpart on Monday, as the U.K.’s shock decision to leave the European Union continued to weigh heavily on market sentiment.
NZD/USD retreated 0.90% to 0.7071, after rising to 13-month highs of 0.7304 on Friday.
The U.K. voted by nearly 52% to 48% on Thursday to break away from the world's biggest trading bloc.
British Prime Minister David Cameron, who had backed the failed Remain campaign, stepped down after the final referendum result was announced.
Following the vote, the Bank of England said it was ready to pump £250 billion to aid the smooth running of markets, declaring it will take "all necessary steps" to ensure financial and monetary stability.
Central banks from the G7 group also said in a joint statement that they were prepared to provide additional liquidity to markets as needed.
Markets shrugged off official data on Monday showing that New Zealand’s trade surplus widened to NZ$358 million in May from NZ$292 million the previous month. Analysts had expected the trade surplus to narrow to NZ$164 million last month.
AUD/USD declined 0.68% to trade at 0.7411, off Friday’s one-and-a-half month peak of 0.7652.
The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, was up 0.63% at 96.22, still close to Friday’s three-month high of 96.70.