FX.co ★ New Zealand Dollar Holds Advance

The New Zealand dollar held near $0.590 after touching a two-and-a-half-month high, supported by a weaker US dollar. The greenback remained under pressure as a run of soft US economic data led investors to scale back expectations of a Federal Reserve rate hike in September. The kiwi was also underpinned by expectations that the Reserve Bank of New Zealand will deliver another 25-basis-point increase next month, having repeatedly signalled the need to further withdraw monetary accommodation. However, recent domestic data have cast doubt on how much further the RBNZ can tighten policy. At the same time, investor sentiment stayed cautious amid a lack of meaningful progress toward a Middle East peace deal, limiting demand for risk-sensitive currencies such as the New Zealand dollar.