NZD/USD lower after New Zealand PM John Key said the kiwi was overvalued

New Zealand dollar slid lower against its US peer on Monday, after NZ Prime Minister John Key said the national currency was still overvalued.

The kiwi dollar lost ground against most of its 16 major peers, reducing its monthly gain of 4.3%. NZD/USD reached a session low at 0.8059 at 7:15 GMT, after which consolidation followed at 0.8085.

“We are likely to see a depreciation of the New Zealand dollar against the U.S. dollar, and that’s welcomed because the government’s view is that foreign-exchange rate is still overvalued,” Key said today in Seoul, cited by Bloomberg.

Meanwhile, the Australian dollar also lost ground, trimming its two-week advance, after Asian shares continued to fall, reducing demand for higher-yielding currencies. The MSCI Asia Pacific Index of stocks decreased by 1.4%.

At the same time, uncertainty over the future of Federal Reserves stimulus was boosted, following the mixed series of economic data, released last week from the United States. According to a survey of experts by Bloomberg, the Federal Reserve Bank will abstain from scaling back its monthly purchases, currently at 85 billion USD, at this week’s meeting.

Elsewhere, the kiwi dollar was higher against its Australian counterpart, as AUD/NZD fell by 0.24% to trade at 1.1441 at 8:53 GMT.