Investing.com - The New Zealand dollar slipped against its U.S. counterpart on Monday, to trade near two-and-a-half week lows as demand for the greenback found new support after Friday's upbeat U.S. data.
NZD/USD hit 0.7508 during late Asian trade, the session low; the pair subsequently consolidated at 0.7533, falling 0.13%.
The pair was likely to find support at 0.7484, the low of April 15 and resistance at 0.7631, Friday's high.
The greenback regained some ground after a report by the Institute for Supply Management on Friday showed that activity in the manufacturing sector was stable in April, after slowing in the five previous months.
Another report showed that U.S. consumer sentiment rose in April to its highest level since January.
The reports fuelled optimism that the U.S. economy has turned a corner after a recent soft patch.
Elsewhere, data showed that Chinese manufacturing activity contracted at the fastest rate in a year in April, adding to concerns over a slowdown in the world’s second-largest economy.
China's HSBC final manufacturing purchasing managers' index slipped to 48.9 in April from 49.2 the previous month, compared to expectations for a rise to 49.4.
China is New Zealand's second biggest export partner.
The kiwi was higher against the Australian dollar, with AUD/NZD shedding 0.22% to 1.0385.
Also Monday, the Australian Bureau of Statistics reported that building approvals rose 2.8% in March, beating expectations for a 2.0% decline. February's figure was revised to a 1.6% fall from a previously estimated 3.2% drop.
Another report showed that Australia's job advertisements increased by 2.3% last month after a 1.3% decline in March, whose figure was revised from a previously estimated 1.4% fall.
Later in the day, the U.S. was to publish data on factory orders.