US dollar Rose And New Zealand Dollar Fell Due to New General Isolation Measures

The New Zealand dollar fell to its lowest in nearly three weeks on Tuesday, August 17, after the country detected its first case of COVID-19 since February, prompting the government to announce new, short-term public isolation measures.

The currency fell significantly in the early hours of trading in Asia, and its losses reached when Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said that Auckland, where the case appeared, would enter general isolation for seven days, while New Zealand as a whole would be subject to the most severe A level of general isolation for three days.

By 07:28 GMT, the New Zealand dollar fell 1.4% to $0.6921, its lowest level in 20 days, and is heading for its largest daily decline since May.

The news came just a day before a widely expected announcement by the country’s central bank, the Reserve Bank of New Zealand, to raise interest rates, becoming the first bank among developed countries to raise interest rates since the pandemic began as its economy recovers.

Elsewhere, the general feature in the currency markets has been a general risk aversion, as European stock indices opened lower.

Asian stocks were shaken by concerns about China’s plans to regulate the Internet sector, the latest move in a crackdown on technology companies in the country.

The US dollar rose 0.1% to 92.705, after gains made in the previous session.

And the euro settled against the dollar at 1.177 dollars.

The Australian dollar fell to a nine-month low after the release of the central bank’s meeting minutes, which contained a hawkish tone, and by 07:35 GMT, the Australian currency fell 0.7% during the session to $0.72885.

The safe-haven Japanese yen and Swiss franc approached a 10-day high hit in the previous session against the dollar.

The two currencies received a boost in recent days from weak economic data from the United States and China, which raised fears that the spread of the delta strain could slow the economic recovery from COVID-19.

A survey conducted by the University of Michigan on Friday showed that consumer sentiment in the United States fell significantly in early August to a 10-year low, while data published on Monday in China showed that retail sales, industrial production, and investment in fixed assets came in weaker than expected in July.

The number of employees in British corporate payrolls approached the pre-pandemic level last month and the unemployment rate was at 4.7%, which is just below the 4.8% expectations of economists polled by Reuters.

The British pound is still down by 0.2% during the session, with the influence of the dollar’s strength dominating the local news.