Investing.com - The New Zealand dollar was lower against its U.S. counterpart on Monday, after New Zealand’s trade balanced unexpectedly fell into a deficit while fresh concerns over the debt crisis in the euro zone weighed on sentiment.
NZD/USD hit 0.8335, the pair’s lowest since February 23; the pair subsequently consolidated at 0.8347, shedding 0.15%.
The pair was likely to find support at 0.8294, the low of February 3 and resistance at 0.8403, the high if February 21.
Statistics New Zealand said earlier that the trade balance swung to a deficit of NZD199 million in January, from a surplus of NZD306 million in December, whose figure was revised down from a surplus of NZD338 million.
Economists had expected the trade surplus to narrow to NZD167 million in January.
Meanwhile, risk appetite also came under pressure after European members were told at the Group of 20 nations’ summit this weekend that they must come up with more financial firepower to fight the region’s debt crisis in return for more help from the rest of the world.
Markets were also jittery as Germany’s parliament was preparing to vote later Monday on a EUR130 billion bailout package for Greece, which was agreed upon by euro zone finance ministers last week.
Sentiment remained supported however as investors looked ahead to the European Central Bank's second liquidity operation, set to take place on Wednesday, after the bank carried out a similar successful operation in December.
Elsewhere, the kiwi was lower against the euro with EUR/NZD adding 0.23%, to hit 1.6127.
Later in the day, the U.S. was to publish industry data on pending home sales.
NZD/USD hit 0.8335, the pair’s lowest since February 23; the pair subsequently consolidated at 0.8347, shedding 0.15%.
The pair was likely to find support at 0.8294, the low of February 3 and resistance at 0.8403, the high if February 21.
Statistics New Zealand said earlier that the trade balance swung to a deficit of NZD199 million in January, from a surplus of NZD306 million in December, whose figure was revised down from a surplus of NZD338 million.
Economists had expected the trade surplus to narrow to NZD167 million in January.
Meanwhile, risk appetite also came under pressure after European members were told at the Group of 20 nations’ summit this weekend that they must come up with more financial firepower to fight the region’s debt crisis in return for more help from the rest of the world.
Markets were also jittery as Germany’s parliament was preparing to vote later Monday on a EUR130 billion bailout package for Greece, which was agreed upon by euro zone finance ministers last week.
Sentiment remained supported however as investors looked ahead to the European Central Bank's second liquidity operation, set to take place on Wednesday, after the bank carried out a similar successful operation in December.
Elsewhere, the kiwi was lower against the euro with EUR/NZD adding 0.23%, to hit 1.6127.
Later in the day, the U.S. was to publish industry data on pending home sales.