- US Dollar Index leaps above 96.60 on Thursday.
- PMI data from the U.S. point out to robust expansion.
- Coming up: Annual visitor arrivals change from New Zealand.
The NZD/USD pair rose above the 0.68 mark for the first time in more than a week on Thursday before losing its traction and erasing the majority of Wednesday’s gains. As of writing, the pair was down 0.4% on a daily basis 0.6758.
Earlier in the day, the US Dollar Index struggled to recover the losses that it suffered during the first half of the week and allowed the pair to cling to the gains it posted following the upbeat inflation data from New Zealand. However, with today’s data from the U.S. coming in above market estimates, the greenback started to gather strength against its rivals and lifted the US Dollar Index to its highest level since early January at 96.68. At the moment, the index is up 0.5% on the day at 96.60.
In its preliminary January report, the IHS Markit today announced that the manufacturing sector and the service sector both continued to expand at a more robust pace than expected. Furthermore, the Composite PMI rose to 54.5 to beat the analysts’ estimate of 54.2. Additionally, weekly initial jobless claims fell to its lowest level since 1969 at 199K.
In the early Asian session on Friday, Statistics New Zealand will release the annual change in the number of visitor arrivals, which is unlikely to impact the kiwi’s market valuation.
Key technical levels to consider
The initial support for the pair aligns at 0.6750 (Jan. 23 low) ahead of 0.6705/0.6700 (Jan. 22 low/psychological level) and 0.6670 (Jan. 4 low). On the upside, resistances are located at 0.6790 (50-DMA), 0.6850 (Jan. 15 low) and 0.6880 (Dec. 18, 2018, high).
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