Investing.com - The New Zealand dollar dropped sharply against its U.S. counterpart on Thursday, weighed by the release of softer than expected inflation data from New Zealand, although upbeat Chinese manufacturing data lent some support to export-related currencies.
NZD/USD hit 0.7832 during late Asian trade, the pair's lowest since October 15; the pair subsequently consolidated at 0.7843, tumbling 1.10%.
The pair was likely to find support at 0.7804, the low of October 15 and resistance at 0.7992.
Statistics New Zealand reported earlier that consumer price inflation rose 0.3% in the third quarter, confounding expectations for an increase of 0.5%, after a 0.3% advance in the three months to June.
The data fuelled speculation that the Reserve Bank of New Zealand could delay any potential rate hikes.
Elsewhere, data showed that China’s HSBC manufacturing purchasing managers’ index edged up to 50.4 this month from 50.2 last month, above forecasts for 50.3.
China is New Zealand's second biggest export partner.
Meanwhile, the greenback remained supported after data on Wednesday showed that the U.S. consumer price index ticked up 0.1% last month from August, while core consumer prices, which exclude energy and food costs, also rose 0.1%.
The kiwi was also lower against the euro, with EUR/NZD climbing 0.97% to 1.6107.
Later in the day, the U.S. was to publish its weekly report on initial jobless claims.