Investing.com - The New Zealand dollar was lower against its U.S. counterpart on Wednesday, as demand for the greenback remained supported after Tuesday's upbeat U.S. retail sales data.
NZD/USD hit 0.8334 during late Asian trade, the pair's lowest since Monday; the pair subsequently consolidated at 0.8347, dropping 0.42%.
The pair was likely to find support at 0.8284, the low of January 13 and resistance at 0.8432, Tuesday's high and a two-and-a-half month high.
The greenback found support after the Commerce Department said Tuesday that U.S. retail sales rose 0.2% in December, while core retail sales, which excludes auto sales, rose 0.7%.
The data helped bolster expectations that the economic recovery in the U.S. will continue to deepen this year and offset concerns over last week’s surprising poor nonfarm payrolls report for December.
The kiwi was higher against the Australian dollar, with AUD/NZD slipping 0.16% to 1.0678.
Also Wednesday, data showed that new motor vehicle sales in Australia rose 1.7% in December, after an upwardly revised 2.1% increase the previous month.
Later in the day, the U.S. was to release data on producer price inflation and a report on manufacturing activity in the New York region.