Forex – Aussie holds steady after weak NAB data, kiwi edges higher
Investing.com – The Australian dollar was steady against its U.S. counterpart on Tuesday, after the release of downbeat Australian data, while the New Zealand dollar edged higher as market sentiment continued to recover from concerns caused by Hurricane Irma and North Korea.
AUD/USD slipped 0.14% to 0.8016.
Earlier Tuesday, the National Australia Bank said its business confidence index fell to 5 in August from a reading of 12 the previous month.
NZD/USD rose 0.21% to trade at 0.7267.
Meanwhile, sentiment continued to improve as Hurricane Irma caused less damage than expected in Florida and as North Korea did not fire missiles over the weekend.
Market participants had braced for additional provocations from North Korea on September 9, as the State celebrated its founding day. But Pyongyang marked the anniversary without further missile or nuclear tests.
In response to North Korea’s sixth nuclear test, the U.N. Security Council voted unanimously on Monday to step up sanctions
By Michelle Nichols UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) – The United Nations Security Council is set to vote …
on the peninsula. Its textile exports are now banned and fuel supplies to Pyonyang are capped.
It was the ninth sanctions resolution unanimously adopted by the Security Council since 2006 over North Korea’s ballistic missile and nuclear programs.
On the other hand, Hurricane Irma continued to hammer Florida on Monday, but it lost strength and was downgraded to a tropical storm.
About 7.3 million homes and businesses were without power in Florida, Georgia, South Carolina and Alabama, according to state officials and utilities on Monday.
The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, was down 0.11% at 91.82 by 02:10 a.m. ET (06:10 GMT)