Investing.com - The New Zealand dollar declined against its U.S. counterpart on Tuesday, to hit a five-week trough as Friday's upbeat U.S. employment data continued to push the greenback broadly higher.
NZD/USD hit 0.7277 during late Asian trade, the pair's lowest since March 3; the pair subsequently consolidated at 0.7301, sliding 0.74%.
The pair was likely to find support at 0.7174, the low of February 3 and resistance at 0.7398, Monday's high.
The greenback remained broadly supported after the latest U.S. jobs report heigthened expectations for higher interest rates.
The Fed is expected to begin raising interest rates around the middle of this year and investors were looking ahead to next week’s policy statement to see if it would drop its reference to being patient before raising rates.
The kiwi was steady against the Australian dollar, with AUD/NZD at 1.0482.
Also Tuesday, the National Australia Bank said that its business confidence index fell to zero in February from a reading of 3 the previous month.