NZD/USD steadies at 10-day highs near 0.6850, eyes on US government shutdown

• Improved sentiment helps kiwi preserve its strength.
• Broad-based USD weakness boosts the pair on Friday.
• US government is expected to reopen. 

The NZD/USD pair gained traction in the NA session and broke above the 0.68 mark to extend its daily rally to a fresh 10-day high of 0.6846. As of writing, the pair was up 1.11% on the day at 0.6840.

The decisive upsurge of the major equity indexes in the U.S. allowed risk-sensitive currencies such as the NZD outperform their major rivals. At the moment, the Nasdaq Composite is up 1.25% on the day while the S&P 500 is adding nearly 1%. Additionally, reports of the U.S. President Donald Trump agreeing to reopen the government for the next three weeks seems to be helping the risk-appetite remain high in the session. An official announcement is expected at 18:30 GMT.

On the other hand, the sharp drop witnessed in the U.S. Dollar Index in the last few hours allowed the pair to push higher. Despite a lack of macroeconomic data releases from the United States that may have weighed on the greenback, the index failed to cling to yesterday's gains. A WSJ report that claimed that the Fed could end the balance sheet reduction scheme earlier than expected seems to be making it difficult for the buck to find demand. At the moment, the DXY is down 0.7% on the day at 95.90.

Key technical levels