NZD/USD goes into consolidation after renewing multi-month highs above 0.6590

• NZD/USD loses bullish momentum before reaching 0.6600 on Thursday.
• Business confidence in New Zealand recovered slightly in 
• US Dollar Index stays around mid-96s ahead of Jobless Claims data.

The NZD/USD pair continued to edge higher during the Asian session on Thursday and touched its highest level since late January at 0.6593. However, the pair struggled to preserve its momentum amid a lack of significant macroeconomic data releases and started to consolidate its gains. As of writing, NZD/USD was up 0.08% on the day at 0.6580.

NZD capitalizes on upbeat data, risk-on mood

Earlier in the day, the data published by the ANZ showed that the Business Confidence in New Zealand improved from -34.4 to -29.8 in July. Moreover, the positive market environment on heightened hopes surrounding a coronavirus vaccine provided a boost to risk-sensitive NZD.

On the other hand, the greenback stays on the back foot against its rivals with the US Dollar Index struggling to pull away from the multi-week low it set at 96.24 on Thursday. Later in the session, the US Department of Labor will publish its weekly Initial Jobless Claims data, which is expected to show that 1.37 million American applied for unemployment insurance last week.

In the early trading hours of the Asian session on Friday, Electronic Card Retail Sales data from New Zealand will be featured in the economic docket.

Technical levels to watch for