NZDUSD clings to gains above 0.6100 amidst a strong US Dollar

• Broad US Dollar strength keeps most G8 currencies weakening, except for the NZD.
• Vice-Chair Brainard boosted hopes that the Federal Reserve might slow its pace of interest-rate increases.
• The New Zealand Dollar (NZD) traders focus shifts on housing data, to be released around 21:30 GMT.

The New Zealand Dollar (NZD) advances in the North American session, even though Fed speaking bolstered the US Dollar (USD), a late intervention of the Federal Reserve (Fed) Vice Chair Brainard turned sentiment positive. Therefore, the NZDUSD is trading at 0.6113, above its opening price by 0.49%.

Federal Reserve’s Vice-Chair Brainard shifted sentiment positively

US equities turned green. Fed Vice-Chair Lael Brainard said that the Fed would soon reduce the pace of rate hikes and supports a 50 bps interest-rate increase. Nevertheless, she emphasized that the US central bank would not ease and acknowledged that “we have additional work to do.” Echoing her comments was Fed Governor Christopher Waller, who said that the Fed “still got a ways to go” in tightening monetary conditions. He added that the US Central Bank could moderate to 50 bps increases in December or following that meeting and cautioned Fed officials are not close to pausing.

Data-wise, the New York Fed survey of consumer inflation expectations in October rose to 5.9% in a one-year horizon, while the 3-year jumped to 3.1%. Increases in inflation expectations reflect high gasoline prices.

Meanwhile, the US Dollar Index advances 0.27%, up at 106.710, failing to underpin the USD against the NZD.

Aside from this, on Monday’s Asian session, New Zealand’s calendar revealed that the services and Composite Performance of Services (PSI) jumped by 1.5 points, exceeding the previous month’s reading from 55.9 to 57.4, while the latter edged lower to 53.1 from 54.1

What to watch

The New Zealand economic docket will feature REINZ housing data. On the US front, the October Producer Price Index (PPI) and Fed speakers like Patrick Harker, Lisa Cook, and Michael Barr.

NZDUSD Key Technical Levels