Investing.com – The U.S. dollar soared against its New Zealand counterpart on Thursday, hitting a 2-day high in the wake of mixed economic data from the United States.
During European afternoon trade, NZD/USD sank to 0.6923, the pair's lowest rate since Tuesday. The pair subsequently consolidated around 0.6973, still shedding 0.68%.
NZD/USD was likely to find support at 0.6807, the low of Feb. 5 and an 11-month low, and short-term resistance at 0.7097, Wednesday's high.
The kiwi also plunged against sterling, with GBP/NZD shooting up 0.84% to hit 2.1507.
Earlier Thursday, official data showed that the number of U.S. workers filing new applications for unemployment benefits fell at a slower-than-forecast rate last week.
A separate government report, meanwhile, showed that the U.S. trade deficit unexpectedly shrunk to USD 37.3 billion in January from USD 39.9 billion in December.
Later in the day, New Zealand was due to release monthly data on retail sales, an important indicator of consumer spending.