By Sophie Kiderlin
LONDON, July 8 (Reuters) – The U.S. dollar was steady at around its highest level in roughly a week on Wednesday after U.S. President Donald Trump said an interim memorandum of understanding signed with Iran to end their conflict was “over”, while New Zealand’s currency jumped after the country’s central bank lifted interest rates.
The U.S. dollar index, which measures its strength against a basket of six currencies, was little changed on the day at 101.17. It was last hovering around its highest since July 2, in a somewhat choppy session for the safe-haven currency.
“The USD has reacted, but the market has learnt to take Trump’s comments with a pinch of salt. The remarks may be meant to bring the opposition to the table. Nevertheless, they will raise anxiety levels another notch,” Jane Foley, head of FX strategy at Rabobank, said.
Brent crude was last up 6.24% at $78.82 a barrel, extending a rally into a second day.
Trump’s comments come after Iran’s Revolutionary Guards on Wednesday said they attacked U.S. military sites in Bahrain and Kuwait, after the U.S. launched a wave of airstrikes against Iran in response to attacks on tankers in the Strait of Hormuz.
NEW ZEALAND HIKES, FED MINUTES IN FOCUS
Meanwhile, the kiwi dollar was last 0.26% higher at $0.5691, having pared earlier gains, after the Reserve Bank of New Zealand hiked rates by 25 basis points to 2.5% to curb inflation pressures, as most economists had expected, and said “some further reduction in monetary stimulus is likely to be required” to control inflation.
“A key argument for the hike is a concern that financial conditions would have eased further if the OCR was left unchanged,” Westpac analysts wrote in a research note, referring to the central bank’s official cash rate.
Later in the day, traders will be watching out for minutes from the Federal Reserve’s June meeting, which was new Chairman Kevin Warsh’s first.
“Today’s minutes will clarify how serious members are about the possibility of rate hikes,” Francesco Pesole, FX strategist at ING, said in a note.
“Based on post-meeting communication, we see limited risk of a dovish surprise in the minutes. We expect a cementing of the hawkish message to firm up dollar momentum,” he said, noting that a break higher was not expected, however, as markets may hesitate to re-rate expectations sharply higher after last week’s soft jobs data.
Elsewhere, the U.S. dollar rose 0.24% against the Japanese yen to 162.48 yen, advancing for a fourth day as traders remained alert to possible intervention from Japanese authorities.
The euro was little changed at $1.1405, while the British pound was down 0.1% at $1.3334.
(Reporting by Sophie Kiderlin in London and Gregor Stuart Hunter in Singapore; Editing by Stephen Coates, Kevin Buckland and Alex Richardson)
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