New Zealand Dollar drops to fresh low since April as hawkish Fed bets support USD
- NZD/USD remains on the defensive as the Fed’s hawkish tilt continues to underpin the USD.
- US Vice President JD Vance cancels his trip for talks with Iran, keeping a lid on the optimism.
- Bets for more aggressive RBNZ rate hikes could support the NZD and limit losses for the pair.
The NZD/USD pair turns lower for the third straight day following a modest Asian session uptick to the 0.5775 region and touches a fresh low since April 8 in the last hour. Spot prices currently trade just below mid-0.5700s and seem poised to register heavy weekly losses amid a bullish US Dollar (USD).
The USD Index (DXY), which tracks the Greenback against a basket of currencies, preserves its recent strength to the highest level since May 2025 in the face of the US Federal Reserve's (Fed) hawkish tilt. In fact, policymakers projected the fed funds rate at 3.8% by the end of this year, up from 3.4% in March, implying at least one 25-basis-point (bps) rate hike in the coming months. This, to a larger extent, overshadows the US-Iran peace deal and continues to underpin the buck, which, in turn, is seen acting as a headwind for the NZD/USD pair.
Meanwhile, CNN reported that US Vice President JD Vance canceled his trip to talks with Iran in Switzerland. This further keeps a lid on the latest optimism and turns out to be another factor supporting the Greenback. However, the Reserve Bank of New Zealand's (RBNZ) hawkish shift might hold back traders from placing aggressive bearish bets around the New Zealand Dollar (NZD) and limit losses for the NZD/USD pair. In fact, the RBNZ indicated that the OCR could reach roughly 2.85% by the end of this year, implying up to three rate hikes.
Moving ahead, the liquidity and trading volumes could remain low in the face of a US bank holiday in observance of Juneteenth National Independence Day. This further makes it prudent to wait for strong follow-through selling before positioning for an extension of the recent retracement slide from the vicinity of the 0.6000 psychological mark, or the May monthly swing high.
US Dollar Price This week
The table below shows the percentage change of US Dollar (USD) against listed major currencies this week. US Dollar was the strongest against the British Pound.
| USD | EUR | GBP | JPY | CAD | AUD | NZD | CHF | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| USD | 1.04% | 1.60% | 0.66% | 1.11% | 0.55% | 1.41% | 1.14% | |
| EUR | -1.04% | 0.52% | -0.37% | 0.06% | -0.51% | 0.36% | 0.09% | |
| GBP | -1.60% | -0.52% | -1.06% | -0.44% | -1.04% | -0.17% | -0.44% | |
| JPY | -0.66% | 0.37% | 1.06% | 0.45% | -0.11% | 0.79% | 0.47% | |
| CAD | -1.11% | -0.06% | 0.44% | -0.45% | -0.60% | 0.33% | 0.02% | |
| AUD | -0.55% | 0.51% | 1.04% | 0.11% | 0.60% | 0.88% | 0.60% | |
| NZD | -1.41% | -0.36% | 0.17% | -0.79% | -0.33% | -0.88% | -0.27% | |
| CHF | -1.14% | -0.09% | 0.44% | -0.47% | -0.02% | -0.60% | 0.27% |
The heat map shows percentage changes of major currencies against each other. The base currency is picked from the left column, while the quote currency is picked from the top row. For example, if you pick the US Dollar from the left column and move along the horizontal line to the Japanese Yen, the percentage change displayed in the box will represent USD (base)/JPY (quote).
Author
Haresh Menghani
FXStreet
Haresh Menghani is a detail-oriented professional with 10+ years of extensive experience in analysing the global financial markets.
