NZD/USD trades with positive bias amid softer USD, lacks follow-through beyond 0.5900

NZD/USD gains some positive traction on Monday amid a modest USD weakness.
Dovish Fed expectations and a positive risk tone undermine the safe-haven buck.
China’s economic woes and RBNZ rate cut bets to cap any further gains for the pair.

Haresh Menghani FXStreet

The NZD/USD pair attracts some dip-buyers near the 0.5880 area during the Asian session on Monday amid a softer US Dollar (USD), albeit lacks bullish conviction. Spot prices currently trade around the 0.5900 round figure and remain well within the striking distance of the lowest level since early May touched last Thursday.

The US Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) Price Index data released on Friday added to the recent signs of easing price pressures and reaffirmed bets that the Federal Reserve (Fed) will start cutting interest rates in December. This, in turn, drags the US Treasury bond yields to a nearly two-week low, which, along with the risk-on impulse, keeps the USD bulls on the defensive and turns out to be a key factor lending some support to the NZD/USD pair.

That said, persistent worries about a slowdown in China – the world's second-largest economy – might continue to act as a headwind for antipodean currencies, including the Kiwi. Adding to this, rising bets for an early interest rate cut by the Reserve Bank of New Zealand (RBNZ), bolstered by the weaker CPI report released last week, contribute to capping the NZD/USD pair. This, in turn, warrants some caution before positioning for further intraday gains.

Traders might also refrain from placing aggressive directional bets and prefer to wait for the outcome of a two-day FOMC policy meeting on Wednesday. The highly-anticipated Fed decision, along with important US macro releases scheduled at the start of a new month, including the Nonfarm Payrolls report, will play a key role in influencing the near-term USD price dynamics. This, in turn, will provide some meaningful impetus to the NZD/USD pair.

US Dollar PRICE Today

The table below shows the percentage change of US Dollar (USD) against listed major currencies today. US Dollar was the strongest against the Japanese Yen.

	USD	EUR	GBP	JPY	CAD	AUD	NZD	CHF
USD		-0.05%	-0.12%	-0.03%	-0.09%	-0.23%	-0.14%	-0.08%
EUR	0.05%		-0.09%	0.02%	-0.01%	-0.13%	-0.07%	-0.01%
GBP	0.12%	0.09%		0.08%	0.06%	-0.04%	0.04%	0.09%
JPY	0.03%	-0.02%	-0.08%		-0.09%	-0.19%	-0.09%	-0.03%
CAD	0.09%	0.00%	-0.06%	0.09%		-0.11%	-0.06%	0.02%
AUD	0.23%	0.13%	0.04%	0.19%	0.11%		0.10%	0.13%
NZD	0.14%	0.07%	-0.04%	0.09%	0.06%	-0.10%		0.05%
CHF	0.08%	0.00%	-0.09%	0.03%	-0.02%	-0.13%	-0.05%

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.

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