Investing.com - The New Zealand dollar edged lower against its broadly stronger U.S. counterpart on Thursday, hovering close to six month lows as investors looked ahead to Friday’s U.S. employment report for August.
NZD/USD dipped 0.10% to 0.8316, not far from the six month trough of 0.8286 struck on Wednesday.
The pair was likely to find support at around 0.8286 and resistance at the 0.8350 level.
The New Zealand dollar ended Wednesday’s session slightly higher against the greenback as hopes that a resolution to end the conflict in Ukraine could be reached buoyed investor sentiment.
Demand for the greenback continued to be underpinned by expectations that the Federal Reserve is growing closer to raising interest rates as recent upbeat economic reports indicated that the U.S. recovery is deepening.
Investors were looking ahead to the latest U.S. employment report, due for release on Friday, for further indications on the strength of the recovery in the labor market, a key factor in deciding the future path of monetary policy.
Elsewhere, the kiwi was little changed against the Australian dollar, with AUD/NZD AT 1.1222.
In Australia, official data on Thursday showed that the country’s trade deficit narrowed to A$1.36 billion in August, which was smaller than the forecast of A$1.51 billion and down from June's deficit of A$1.56 billion.
A separate report showed that domestic retail sales rose 0.4% in July, in line with expectations, following a 0.6% increase in June.
The kiwi was also little changed against the yen, with NZD/JPY at 87.27.