Forexpros – The New Zealand dollar was lower against its U.S. counterpart on Tuesday, as risk sentiment weakened after Moody’s ratings agency downgraded six European countries and put several others under review.
NZD/USD hit 0.8286 during late Asian trade, the daily low; the pair subsequently consolidated at 0.8296, declining 0.50%.
The pair was likely to find support at 0.8248, the low of February 10 and resistance at 0.8372, the high of February 7.
Moody’s Investors Service cut the debt ratings of six European countries including Italy, Spain and Portugal earlier and said it may strip France and the U.K. of their top Aaa ratings, citing the euro zone’s debt crisis.
The news overshadowed the vote of a new austerity plan by the Greek parliament, designed to secure the country’s much needed EUR130 billion bailout package.
In New Zealand, industry data showed earlier that house prices fell 1.4% in January after a 0.1% drop the previous month.
The kiwi was fractionally lower against the Australian dollar with AUD/NZD edging up 0.04%, to hit 1.2874.
Also Tuesday, industry data showed that an index of business confidence for Australia rose to 4 in January from 3 the previous month.
Later in the day, the U.S. was to release official data on retail sales, as well as reports on import prices and business inventories.
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