NZD/USD edges higher toward 0.7200, eyes on key US data, Wall Street

• NZD/USD is posting modest daily gains on Friday.
• US Dollar Index stays quiet near 90.50 after Thursday’s decline.
• Investors await inflation, Personal Income and Personal Spending data from US.

Following Wednesday’s sharp decline, the NZD/USD pair extended its slide to a fresh weekly low of 0.7104 on Thursday but staged a decisive rebound during the American session to close modestly higher at 0.7170. Although the pair fluctuated in a tight range during the first half of the day on Friday, it gained traction in the last hour and was last seen gaining 0.33% on the day at 0.7194.

DXY turns south as US stocks futures recover

The sharp upsurge witnessed in Wall Street’s main indexes after several brokerage firms restricted trading in volatile GameStop and AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc on Thursday weighed on the greenback and helped NZD/USD push higher. The US Dollar Index (DXY) lost 0.21% and seems to be struggling to gain traction on Friday. With the S&P 500 Futures, which lost as much as 1% during the European session, staging a rebound ahead of the opening bell, the DXY retreated below 90.50.

Later in the session, the US Bureau of Economic Analysis will publish the Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) Price Index, the Fed’s preferred gauge of inflation, alongside Personal Spending and Personal Income figures. Pending Home Sales and the University of Michigan’s Consumer Sentiment Index will be featured in the US economic docket as well.

Earlier in the day, the data from New Zealand showed that the Roy Morgan Consumer Confidence Index improved to113.8 in January from 112 in December but this reading was largely ignored by market participants.

Technical levels to watch for