NZD/USD portrays bullish exhaustion near 11-week top beyond 0.6200

• NZD/USD fails to hold onto recovery moves, slips from 0.6230.
• New Zealand’s ANZ – Roy Morgan Consumer Confidence rises for May.
• Market’s risk-tone remains mostly positive as global equities cheer likely additional stimulus.
• Optimism surrounding economic restart, virus cure confront US-China tension amid a light calendar.

NZD/USD seesaws around 0.6200, after stepping back from the intraday top of 0.6230, during the early Friday’s Asian session. Despite staying near multi-day high, the kiwi pair seems to fade the upside momentum as the political/trade tension between the US and China keeps threatening the Antipodeans.

The US and China continue to jostle over the Hong Kong Security Bill while also flashing red signals for their future trade deal and weigh on the market’s risk tone. On Thursday, the House of Representatives of the US passed a bill to sanction Chinese officials involved in Xinjiang human rights violation issue. Additionally, President Donald Trump cited fears of further sanctions while calling a news conference in China after suggesting punitive measures during the early week. In response to the US actions, Chinese diplomats show readiness to retaliate but offered no major clues.

Even so, global equities manage to cheer the hopes of further stimulus by the central bankers of the UK, Europe and the US. As a result, Wall Street pleased the bulls by the end of Thursday’s session whereas the US 10-year Treasury yields also marked optimism by staying positive around 0.70%.

It’s worth mentioning that New Zealand’s ANZ – Roy Morgan Consumer Confidence rose to 97.3 from 84.8 but failed to offer any major strength to the pair after the release.

On the other hand, the US dollar seems to remain compressed amid downbeat economics and a lack of safe-haven demand.

Looking forward, the US-China story will keep the market players busy amid a light calendar in Asia.

Technical analysis

Not only a daily closing beyond 100-day SMA, currently around 0.6200, but a sustained break above the recent high of 0.6233 becomes necessary for the Kiwi pair to aim for a 200-day SMA level of 0.6315. In an absence of which, sellers will seek a break below the nine-day-old rising trend line, at 0.6175 now, for fresh entries.