- AUD selloff weighs on the kiwi on Wednesday.
- US Dollar Index stays near multi-month highs.
The broad-based USD strength on Tuesday weighed on the NZD/USD pair and caused it to close with a daily loss of 30 pips. With the antipodean coming under a renewed selling pressure in the Asian session, the pair extended its slide and touched its lowest level since January 2 at 0.6613. As of writing, the pair was trading at 0.6623, losing 0.33% on a daily basis.
Earlier today, the data published by the Australian Bureau of Statistics revealed that the inflation, as measured by the Consumer Price Index, in the first quarter of the year stayed unchanged to miss the market expectation for an increase of 0.2% and weighed on the AUD by reviving expectations of the Reserve Bank of Australia going for a rate cut in May. The strongly-correlated kiwi also weakened against the greenback following this data release.
The next data release from New Zealand will be Friday’s trade balance data following tomorrow’s ANZAC Day holiday.
On the other hand, the US Dollar Index, which gained traction yesterday as strong first-quarter earnings figures from big U.S. corporations eased concerns over an economic slowdown and allowed investors to price a hawkish shift in the FOMC’s policy stance, is clinging to its gains. At the moment, the index is up 0.1% on the day at 97.70, looking to challenge yesterday’s high of 97.78.
Technical levels to consider
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