Antipodean Currencies Rise As Asian Shares Traded Higher

(RTTNews) - The antipodean currencies such as the Australia and the New Zealand dollars strengthened against their major currencies in the Asian session on Thursday, as investors reacted positively to the U.S. Fed's widely expected decision to resume hiking interest rates following a pause last month.

The Fed decided to raise the target range for the federal funds rate by 25 basis points on Wednesday.

Traders await further direction from the ECB rate announcement later in the day.

Elsewhere, the Bank of Japan's policy decision is due on Friday, with traders looking for any hints of a shift in its yield-curve control policy.

In the Asian trading today, the Australian dollar rose to 1-week highs of 0.6822 against the U.S. dollar and 0.8981 against the Canadian dollar, from yesterday's closing quotes of 0.6756 and 0.8923, respectively. The next possible upside target level for the aussie is seen around 0.69 against the greenback and 0.90 against the loonie.

Against the yen, the euro and the NZ dollar, the aussie advanced to 95.42, 1.6279 and 1.0894 from yesterday's closing quotes of 94.73, 1.6395 and 1.0877, respectively. If the aussie extends its uptrend, it is likely to find resistance around 98.00 against the yen, 1.60 against the euro and 1.10 against the kiwi.

The NZ dollar rose to nearly a 2-week high of 1.7715 against the euro and a 1-week high of 0.6273 against the U.S. dollar, from yesterday's closing quotes of 1.7844 and 0.6209, respectively. The kiwi may test resistance around 1.74 against the euro and 0.64 against the greenback.

Against the yen, the kiwi edged up to 87.62 from Wednesday's closing value of 87.06. If the kiwi extends its uptrend, it is likely to find resistance around the 90.00 area.

Looking ahead, the Confederation of British Industry is set to publish Distributive Trades survey results at 6:00 am ET.

At 8:15 am ET, the European Central Bank is slated to announce its monetary policy decision. Markets widely expect the ECB to raise the main refi rate again by 25 basis points, to 4.25 percent.

Half-an-hour later, ECB Chief Christine Lagarde is likely to repeat that the interest rates are set to remain high for an extended period.

In the New York session, U.S. durable goods orders for June, U.S. GDP growth rate for the second quarter and U.S. weekly jobless claims are set to be published.