Investing.com - The New Zealand dollar turned lower against the U.S. dollar on Wednesday after rising to one-week highs overnight following data showing that the labor market strengthened in the fourth quarter.
NZD/USD hit lows of 0.8188 and was last down 0.48% to 0.8204. The pair rose to highs of 0.8256 overnight, the strongest since January 29.
The pair was likely to find support at 0.8150 and resistance at 0.8256.
Demand for the greenback was underpinned as investors remained cautious in the wake of a broad based selloff in emerging markets.
Emerging markets rebounded on Tuesday, recovering from their sharp selloff in the past two weeks, with the Turkish lira and the South African rand rising more than 1% against the dollar.
Emerging markets have been hard hit by concerns over the impact of reductions to the Federal Reserve’s stimulus program and worries over a possible slowdown in China.
The kiwi’s losses were held in check after the Reserve Bank indicated last week that rates are likely to rise in March, while an upbeat fourth quarter jobs report also provided support.
Statistics New Zealand said the number of people employed in the three months to December increased by 1.1% or 24,000, after an additional 28,000 jobs were created in the third quarter. Market expectations had been for an increase of 0.6%.
The unemployment rate fell to 6.0% in the fourth quarter from 6.2% in the previous quarter, in line with market expectations.
Elsewhere, the kiwi sharply lower against the broadly stronger yen, with NZD/JPY down 0.79% to 83.02 and was slightly lower against Australia’s dollar, with AUD/NZD easing up 0.12% to 1.0835.