Forexpros – The New Zealand dollar rose to an almost three-month high against its U.S. counterpart on Thursday, after the Federal Reserve pushed back expectations for an interest rate hike.
NZD/USD hit 0.8209 during late Asian trade, the pair’s highest since October 31; the pair subsequently consolidated at 0.8208, adding 0.49%.
The pair was likely to find support at 0.8119, the low of September 15 and resistance at 0.8286, the high of September 19.
In a speech on Wednesday, Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke said that “there is a case for additional policy action,” signaling that the bank may embark on a third round of quantitative easing.
The Fed also left interest rates unchanged near zero and pushed back the likely timing of an eventual rate hike until late 2014, 18 months later than it had previously indicated.
In addition, the central bank revised down its forecast for economic growth this year to a range of between 2.2% and 2.7%, from a range of 2.5% to 2.9% in November.
Earlier Thursday, the Reserve Bank of New Zealand left its benchmark interest rate unchanged at 2.5%, in line with expectations.
RBNZ Governor Alan Bollard said it was prudent to hold rates steady amid the present uncertainty over the global economic outlook.
The kiwi was higher against the Australian dollar with AUD/NZD shedding 0.10%, to hit 1.2958.
Later in the day, the U.S. was to release official data on durable goods, as well as on unemployment claims and new home sales.
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