Investing.com - The New Zealand dollar edged higher against its U.S. counterpart on Wednesday, as the previous session's downbeat U.S. data continued to weigh on demand for the greenback.
NZD/USD hit 0.7192 during late Asian trade, the session high; the pair subsequently consolidated at 0.7186, adding 0.10%.
The pair was likely to find support at 0.7081, the low of June 2 and resistance at 0.7274, the high of May 28.
Demand for the greenback remained under pressure after the U.S. Commerce Department said on Tuesday that factory orders fell 0.4% in April, confounding expectations for a 0.2% increase.
On a year-over-year basis, factory orders dropped 6.4%, the sixth straight monthly decline.
The unexpectedly weak data sparked fresh fears over the outlook for second quarter growth after data last month showed that the U.S. economy contracted 0.2% in the first quarter.
The kiwi was lower against the Australian dollar, with AUD/NZD rising 0.36% to 1.0860.
Earlier Wednesday, the Australian Bureau of Statistics said gross domestic product rose 0.9% in the first quarter, beating expectations for a growth rate of 0.7% and after a 0.5% rise in the last three months of 2014.
Year-on-year, Australia's GDP rose 2.3% in the three months to March, compared to expectations for an increase of 2.1%, following a 2.5% growth rate in the last quarter of 2014.
Later in the day, the U.S. was to release reports on trade balance and service sector activity.