NZD/USD struggling for direction, stuck in a range below 0.7200 handle

The NZD/USD pair seesawed between tepid gains and minor losses, within 25-pips narrow trading range marginally below the 0.7200 handle.

Currently trading around 0.7185-90 band, the pair struggled for a firm direction as investors preferred to wait on the sidelines ahead of the US President Donald Trump's address to Congress, later during the day. A mild weakness in the US treasury bond yields lent some support to the higher-yielding currencies - like the Kiwi, and limited any follow through selling pressure despite of it's repeated failures to sustain its move above the 0.7200 handle. 

Meanwhile, disappointing New-Zealand trade balance data and a subdued price-action around commodity space, pointing towards cautious investors' sentiment, has also failed to provide any fresh impetus; eventually leading to a range bound movement for commodity-linked currencies, including the New-Zealand Dollar. 

Apart from Trump's speech, where investors would be looking for details of the proposed pro-growth economic plans, the US economic docket, featuring the release of - prelim Q4 GDP figures, Chicago PMI and CB's Consumer Confidence Index, might also provide some impetus during early NA session. 

Technical levels to watch

Momentum above 0.7200 handle seems to confront resistance near 0.7215-20 region, above which the pair is likely to aim towards testing 0.7250 strong resistance area, en-route its next hurdle near 0.7275-80 zone.

On the downside, follow through selling pressure below 0.7175 level seems to accelerate the slide towards important moving averages (50,100,200-day SMA) support near 0.7130-20 region ahead of 0.7100 round figure mark.