NZ Dollar Rises Ahead Of RBNZ Rate Decision

(RTTNews) - The New Zealand dollar strengthened against other major currencies in the Asian session on Tuesday, as traders bet on a diminishing possibility of the Reserve Bank of New Zealand's rate cut in its August meeting due Wednesday.

The Reserve Bank of New Zealand (RBNZ) will announce its interest rate decision at its monetary policy meeting on Wednesday. The central bank expects the official cash rate to remain unchanged at 5.5 percent.

Investors await a slew of U.S. economic data for additional clues on the Federal Reserve's policy outlook. There remains optimism about an interest rate cut by the U.S. Fed in September.

Crude oil prices rose sharply, as possibility of disruptions in supply due to escalating tensions in the Middle East outweighed OPEC's monthly report that lowered the demand forecast for 2024. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for September ended up $3.22 or about 4.2 percent at $80.06 a barrel.

In the Asian trading today, the NZ dollar rose to nearly a 4-week high of 0.6038 against the U.S. dollar and a 5-day high of 1.0921 against the Australian dollar, from yesterday's closing quotes of 0.6022 and 1.0934, respectively. If the kiwi extends its uptrend, it is likely to find resistance around 0.61 against the greenback and 1.07 against the aussie.

Against the euro and the NZ dollar, the kiwi edged up to 1.8112 and 89.25 from Monday's closing quotes of 1.8159 and 88.55, respectively. The kiwi may test resistance around 1.78 against the euro and 93.00 against the kiwi.

Looking ahead, Germany's ZEW economic sentiment survey results for August are due to be released in the European session at 5:00 am ET.

In the New York session, U.S. PPI for July, U.S. Redbook report and U.S. NFIB business optimism index for July are slated for release.