Investing.com - The New Zealand dollar was almost unchanged against its U.S. counterpart on Thursday, as data showed that inflation expectations for New Zealand ticked up in the last quarter and after a positive Chinese manufacturing report.
NZD/USD hit 0.8588 during late Asian trade, the session high; the pair subsequently consolidated at 0.8578, easing up 0.05%.
The pair was likely to find support at 0.8518, the low of April 29 and resistance at 0.8654, the high of May 19.
The Reserve Bank of New Zealand said its annual inflation expectations rose to 2.4% in the first quarter, from 2.3% in the three months to December.
Meanwhile, data showed that the preliminary reading of China’s HSBC manufacturing index rose to a five month high of 49.7 this month, up from a final reading 49.4 in April, but still remained below the 50 level separating contraction from expansion.
China is New Zealand's second biggest export partner.
On Wednesday, the minutes of the Federal Reserve’s April meeting indicated that the bank continues to see a slow improvement in the economy, but reiterated that rates are likely to remain on hold at record lows for some time after its asset purchase program ends.
The kiwi was steady against the Australian dollar, with AUD/NZD easing up 0.07% to 1.0798.
Also Thursday, the Melbourne Institute said inflation expectations for the next 12 months ticked up to 4.4% in April, from 4.2% in March, whose figure was revised up from a previously estimated 2.4%.
Later in the day, the U.S. was to release its weekly report on initial jobless claims and private sector data on existing home sales.