NZD/USD clings to gains above mid-0.7200s

The NZD/USD pair continued gaining traction through early Asian session on Friday and held in positive territory for the second consecutive session.

Currently placed marginally above mid-0.7200s, just a few pips away from nearly two-week tops touched in the past hour, persistent US Dollar selling bias has been one of the key factors supporting the pair's ongoing recovery move from the very important 200-day SMA support. 

Meanwhile, the ongoing slide in the US Treasury bond yields, amid fading expectations of any additional Fed rate hike action in 2017, and a mildly positive sentiment around commodity space was also seen benefitting higher-yielding/commodity-linked currencies - like the Kiwi. 

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With markets looking past the release of NZ manufacturing sales, coming-in to show a q-o-q growth of 3.9% in the second quarter remained supportive of the strong bid tone surrounding the major. Traders now look forward to the release of Chinese trade balance data for some fresh trading impetus. 

Technical levels to watch

A follow through buying interest beyond 0.7275-80 area now seems to lift the pair through the 0.7300 handle towards testing 50-day SMA hurdle near the 0.7315 region.

On the flip side, 0.7235-30 zone now seems to protect immediate downside, which if broken could accelerate the fall back towards 100-day SMA support near the 0.7200-0.7190 region.