Investing.com - The New Zealand dollar rose to fresh one-week highs against the U.S. dollar on Thursday, a day after data showed that the U.S. economy grew far more slowly than forecast in the first quarter.
NZD/USD hit highs of 0.8634, the most since April 24 and was last up 0.10% to 0.8625.
The pair was likely to find support at 0.8580 and resistance at 0.8650.
The greenback weakened against most other major currencies on Wednesday after the Commerce Department reported that gross domestic product grew at an annual rate of 0.1% in the first three months of the year, falling far short of forecasts for an expansion of 1.2%.
Despite the sharp slowdown in growth the Federal Reserve said Wednesday it would reduce its bond purchases to $45 billion a month, in a widely expected decision. The Fed also said interest rates would remain on hold at record lows for a "considerable time" after the bond-buying program ends later this year.
The U.S. central bank acknowledged that first quarter growth was far weaker than expected, but added that growth had started to pick up in recent weeks.
"Growth in economic activity has picked up recently, after having slowed sharply during the winter in part because of adverse weather conditions," the bank said.
Investors were beginning to turn their attention to the April nonfarm payrolls report due for release on Friday, which was expected to show that the pace of hiring increased.
The kiwi shrugged off data on Thursday showing that China’s official manufacturing purchasing managers’ index ticked up to 50.4 last month from 50.3 in March, but exports orders declined sharply.
China is New Zealand’s second largest trading partner after Australia.
Elsewhere, the kiwi was almost unchanged against the Australian dollar and the yen, with AUD/NZD at 1.0778 and NZD/JPY trading at 88.12.
Trade volumes were expected to remain thin on Thursday, with many markets in Europe closed for the Labor Day holiday.