NZD/USD begins the overnight session on the low side, sees 0.7250
- Electronic Card Sales figures miss, but the Kiwi was already sinking against the Greenback.
- Dollar confidence is bidding up the USD as Trump's tariff threats lose their bite.
The NZD/USD is on the low side heading into Friday's overnight session, testing into 0.7250 territory at New York's close.
The Kiwi continues to drift in open trade against the Greenback, and protracted declines look set to continue, with the latest recovery faltering as economic data for New Zealand (NZ) still comes out in the, 'not bad, but not good either' category.
The Electronic Card Retail Sales macro figures dropped for the Kiwi heading into Thursday's New York close with a small decline in the year-on-year figures, printing at 3.3% (prev. 3.4%), and the month-on-month data missing the 0.1% forecast to come in at -0.1% (prev. 1.4%). Debit/credit sales are just another in a long line of middling-but-hopeful economic indicators for the island country, as lagging growth prospects leave the Reserve Bank of New Zealand (RBNZ) in a holding pattern on interest rates, with analysts widely expecting the RBNZ to remain on hold well into 2020. Markets were largely non-responsive to the Kiwi data, and the NZD continued to drift lower to finish Thursday unperturbed by the data miss as traders turn their eyes to Trump and his trade war missives.
Markets are far more interested in continuing Trump drama, but even that failed to deliver following Trump's signing of his trade tariffs late Thursday as Trump softened his stance as markets expected, implementing hefty exclusions from the tariffs for Canada and Mexico. Tensions around NAFTA and Chinese negotiations are expected to increase in the coming weeks.
NZD/USD Technicals
A recovery from the recent double-bottom is losing steam on Daily candles, while H4 charts have the NZD/USD on the retreat once more following a spike earlier this week, as Dollar confidence slowly seeps back into markets. Intraday support/resistance can be found at 0.7220 and 0.7310 respectively, while outside barriers rest at 0.7185 and 0.7345.