2023.12.1307:12:00UTC+00NZ Dollar Falls As Asian Shares Traded Lower

The New Zealand dollar weakened against other major currencies in the late Asian session on Wednesday, as Asian stock markets traded lower, despite the broadly positive cues from Wall Street overnight. Traders seem reluctant to make significant moves ahead of the U.S. Fed's final monetary policy announcement this year later in the day.

U.S. data showing persisting inflationary pressures reinforced the view that the Fed is unlikely to cut interest rates anytime soon.

While the Fed is widely expected to leave interest rates unchanged, traders will be looking to the accompanying statement and projections for signs the central bank could begin cutting rates next year.

The markets also await a slew of central bank decisions on Thursday, including the European Central Bank, the Bank of England, the Swiss National Bank and the Norges Bank.

Crude oil prices fell amid lingering concerns about the outlook for fuel demand and worries about possible oversupply in the market. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for January ended down $2.71 or 3.8 percent at $68.61 a barrel.

Data from Statistics New Zealand showed that New Zealand food prices fell 0.2 percent in November from October.

On a yearly basis, food prices rose 6.0 percent in November, slower than the gain of 6.3 percent in the prior month.

In the Asian trading today, the New Zealand dollar fell to more than a 2-week low of 0.6094 against the U.S. dollar and nearly a 2-week low of 1.7700 against the euro, from yesterday's closing quotes of 0.6132 and 1.7591, respectively. If the kiwi extends its downtrend, it is likely to find support around 0.59 against the greenback and 1.79 against the euro.

Against the yen and the Australian dollar, the kiwi slipped to 2-day lows of 88.72 and 1.0754 from Tuesday's closing quotes of 89.18 and 1.0689, respectively. On the downside, 87.00 against the yen and 1.08 against the aussie are seen as the next support levels for the kiwi.

Looking ahead, Eurozone industrial production for October is due to be released at 5:00 am ET in the European session.

In the New York session, U.S. MBA mortgage approvals data, PPI for November and U.S. EIA crude oil data are slated for release.

At 2:00 pm ET, the Federal Reserve will end its two-day monetary policy meeting and announce central bank's rate decision. The Federal Open Market Committee is expected to hold interest rates steady at 5.50 percent.

Half-an-hour later, Fed Chair Jerome Powell will hold a press conference in Washington