Investing.com - The New Zealand dollar edged higher against its U.S. counterpart in thin trade on Tuesday, as markets eyed the release of U.S. data later in the day after the long Easter weekend.
NZD/USD hit 0.8591 during late Asian trade, the session high; the pair subsequently consolidated at 0.8592, adding 0.25%.
The pair was likely to find support at 0.8514, the low of April 3 and resistance at 0.8648, the high of April 17.
Demand for the greenback remained supported after upbeat U.S. data on manufacturing and employment last week pointed to underlying strength in the economy.
The Labor Department reported the number of people filing for unemployment benefits edged up to 304,000, below analysts’ forecasts and not far from the six-and-a-half year low of 300,000 touched the previous week.
The kiwi was lower against the Australian dollar, with AUD/NZD edging up 0.14% to 1.0900.
Also Tuesday, the Conference Board said that its leading index for Australia rose 0.3% in February, after a 0.2% gain the previous month.
Later in the day, the U.S. was to release private sector data on existing home sales.