Dollar steady ahead of Fed decision, kiwi slumps after RBNZ holds

The US dollar remained near a two-week peak on Wednesday as markets awaited policy announcements from central banks, Business Recorder reported. Traders assigned a 91% probability to the Federal Reserve keeping rates unchanged, while attention focused on whether its guidance would shift expectations for December. The dollar index had gained 0.3% on Tuesday to 102.40, its strongest level since October 14.

Currencies elsewhere were mostly steady, but the New Zealand dollar fell as much as 1.7% to $0.5585 after the Reserve Bank of New Zealand kept its rate at 2.75%, contrary to most economists’ forecasts. The Australian dollar edged up 0.1% to $0.7035 after quarterly inflation registered 1.3%, while the US 10-year Treasury yield stayed at 4.9967%. Bitcoin was little changed at $80,736.07 and ether rose 0.1% to $2,345.25.