Forexpros – The New Zealand dollar rallied to a nine-day high against its U.S. counterpart on Wednesday, as market sentiment was boosted ahead of the European Central Bank’s first offer of three-year loans later in the day.
NZD/USD hit 0.7748 during late Asian trade, the pair’s highest since December 8; the pair subsequently consolidated at 0.7753, climbing 0.95%.
The pair was likely to find support at 0.7609, the low of December 12 and resistance at 0.7838, the high of December 2.
Markets were eyeing the ECB’s first offer of three-year loans as many hoped it will help the region’s banks lower their funding costs and avoid a liquidity shortage in the euro zone.
More than 10 Italian banks were expected to apply for the loans by using state-guaranteed bonds as collateral.
Risk appetite was boosted on Tuesday after a successful Spanish bond auction, as well as an unexpected improvement in German business sentiment and upbeat U.S. housing data.
Earlier Wednesday, official data showed that New Zealand’s current account balance fell more-than-expected in the fourth quarter, dropping to a deficit of NZD4.60 billion from a deficit of NZD0.92 billion in the previous quarter.
Analysts had expected New Zealand’s current account deficit to widen to NZD3.77 billion in the fourth quarter.
Elsewhere, the kiwi was higher against the euro with EUR/NZD shedding 0.66%, to hit 1.6920.
Later in the day, the U.S. was to produce industry data on existing home sales.
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