Investing.com - The New Zealand dollar was down against its U.S. counterpart on Monday, following the release of worse-than-expected domestic data on retail sales.
NZD/USD hit 0.7555 during late Asian trade, the daily low; the pair subsequently consolidated at 0.7583, shedding 0.27%.
The pair was likely to find support at 0.7551, Friday’s low and a three-week low and resistance at 0.764, Friday’s high.
Earlier in the day, official data showed that retail sales tumbled more-than-expected in the Christmas season as spending on groceries, hardware, gardening and building supplies tumbled.
Statistics New Zealand said the volume of seasonally adjusted real retail sales in the fourth quarter was down 0.4% from the third quarter while retail sales in December tumbled 1.1% from November. Analysts had expected retail sales to decline 0.3% in December.
Core retail sales, which excludes spending on motor-vehicle related items, fell 1.2% to NZD4.2 billion.
The kiwi was also down against the euro, with EUR/NZD rising 0.17% to hit 1.7843.
Last week, New Zealand’s finance minister said there was a possibility that gross domestic product in the fourth quarter had contracted compared with the previous quarter.
A contraction in the fourth quarter would put the nation back into a technical recession as third quarter GDP contracted 0.2%.
NZD/USD hit 0.7555 during late Asian trade, the daily low; the pair subsequently consolidated at 0.7583, shedding 0.27%.
The pair was likely to find support at 0.7551, Friday’s low and a three-week low and resistance at 0.764, Friday’s high.
Earlier in the day, official data showed that retail sales tumbled more-than-expected in the Christmas season as spending on groceries, hardware, gardening and building supplies tumbled.
Statistics New Zealand said the volume of seasonally adjusted real retail sales in the fourth quarter was down 0.4% from the third quarter while retail sales in December tumbled 1.1% from November. Analysts had expected retail sales to decline 0.3% in December.
Core retail sales, which excludes spending on motor-vehicle related items, fell 1.2% to NZD4.2 billion.
The kiwi was also down against the euro, with EUR/NZD rising 0.17% to hit 1.7843.
Last week, New Zealand’s finance minister said there was a possibility that gross domestic product in the fourth quarter had contracted compared with the previous quarter.
A contraction in the fourth quarter would put the nation back into a technical recession as third quarter GDP contracted 0.2%.