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NZD/USD eases from 4-month highs during Yellen's presser

After rising to its highest level since early February at 0.7316, the NZD/USD pair started to retrace its daily gains following the Fed's decision to hike rates by 25 basis points and Chairwoman Yellen's hawkish remarks. As of writing, the pair is trading at 0.7265, still up 0.6% on the day.

Speaking at the press conference, Yellen said that the Committee expects the job market to strengthen somewhat further and the inflation is largely driven by one-off reductions in price while the core inflation, which is a better indicator of long-term inflation edged lower. 

Following Yellen's initial statements, the US Dollar Index jumped to 96.95 and erased the majority of its daily losses, right now the index is at 96.90, still losing 0.06% on the day. 

Technical outlook

0.7200/0.7190 (psychological level/10-DMA) could be seen as the first support for the pair ahead of 0.7170 (Jun. 12 low) and 0.7100 (psychological level). On the upside, resistances align at 0.7315 (daily high), 0.7375 (Feb. 7 high) and 0.7400 (psychological level).

Author

Eren Sengezer

As an economist at heart, Eren Sengezer specializes in the assessment of the short-term and long-term impacts of macroeconomic data, central bank policies and political developments on financial assets.

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