Investing.com - The New Zealand dollar declined against its U.S. counterpart on Thursday, as markets were jittery ahead of the European Central Bank's monthly policy statement later in the day.
NZD/USD hit 0.8534 during late Asian trade, the pair's lowest since March 24; the pair subsequently consolidated at 0.8543, declining 0.35%.
The pair was likely to find support at 0.8502, the low of March 20 and resistance at 0.8618, Wednesday's high.
Markets were jittery as recent weak euro zone inflation data has added to pressure on the ECB to take steps to stave off the risk of deflation.
On Wednesday, International Monetary Fund head Christine Lagarde urged the central bank to do more to combat low inflation in the region, warning that slow price growth could undermine the fragile global recovery.
The kiwi was fractionally lower against the New Zealand dollar, with AUD/NZD edging up 0.09% to 1.0798.
Also Thursday, official data showed that retail sales in Australia rose 0.2% in February, less than the expected 0.3% increase, after a 1.2% gain the previous month.
A separate report showed that Australia's trade surplus narrowed to A$1.20 billion in February, from A$1.39 billion in January, whose figure was revised down from a previously estimated surplus of A$1.43 billion.
Analysts had expected the trade surplus to narrow to A$0.82 billion in February.
Later in the day, the U.S. was to publish data on the trade balance, was well as the weekly report on initial jobless claims. In addition, the Institute of Supply Management was to publish a report service sector activity.