NZD/USD opens flat near 0.6940 ahead of US Nonfarm Payrolls

• NZD/USD has opened flat around 0.6940 amid the absence of a trigger that could dictate prices decisively.
• US Nonfarm Payrolls are likely to report poor performance this week.
• Kiwi bulls have witnessed a decisive rally recently on rising commodity prices.

The NZD/USD pair has opened flat on Monday around 0.6940 and has been moving gradually. The pair mostly remained balanced last week in a range of 0.6935-0.6987 and is likely to deliver back and forth moves until a trigger that could bring aggressive volumes in the asset.

The greenback bulls are likely to remain on the sidelines ahead of weak US Nonfarm Payrolls numbers. A preliminary estimate for the US Nonfarm Payrolls is 488k much lower than the previous print of 678k. The elevation of US interest rates by 50 basis points (bps) is highly expected by the market participants therefore poor performance from the US Nonfarm Payrolls will complicate the situation for the Federal Reserve (Fed) policymakers. The Fed Chair Jerome Powell would be required to settle on a 25 bps rate hike rather than play on an aggressive tightening figure.

Meanwhile, the US dollar index is hoping to breach the 99.00 after multiple failed attempts. The 10-year US Treasury yields have inched near 2.5% on optimism of seven interest rate hikes by the Fed in 2022.

On the kiwi front, higher commodity prices are driving the bulls on the upside from the past few trading sessions. Higher flows due to elevated commodity prices will ease the fiscal deficit and strengthen the kiwi bulls against the greenback.

Going forward, US Nonfarm Payrolls are likely to remain the mega event this week but investors will also focus on US Gross Domestic Product (GDP) numbers, which are due on Wednesday.