Forexpros – The New Zealand dollar was down against its U.S. counterpart on Monday, as an intervention by the Bank of Japan to curb the strong yen sent the greenback broadly higher.
NZD/USD hit 0.8078 during late Asian trade, the pair’s lowest since October 27; the pair subsequently consolidated at 0.8136, shedding 0.87%.
The pair was likely to find support at 0.7982, the low of October 27 and resistance at 0.8286, the high of September 19.
Earlier Monday, Japanese officials launched an intervention to curb the appreciation of the yen after the dollar fell to a record low of JPY75.56 in early trade.
Commenting on the move, Japanese Finance Minister Jun Azumi said Tokyo had acted on its own and would keep intervening until it was satisfied with the results. Azumi added that he ordered the intervention because “speculative moves” in the currency failed to reflect Japan’s economic fundamentals.
Meanwhile, market sentiment weakened as investors worried that European leaders’ plans to bolster the region’s lenders could fail, as the region’s largest banks seemed ready to raise only a tenth of the total capital shortfall estimated.
In New Zealand, official data showed that building consents dropped unexpectedly in September, tumbling 17% after an upwardly revised 16.6% increase the previous month.
Analysts had expected building consents to rise 2.0% in September.
Elsewhere, the kiwi was higher against the euro with EUR/NZD edging down 0.07%, to hit 1.7220.
Later in the day, the U.S was to produce a report on manufacturing activity in the Chicago area.
Forexpros
