Investing.com - The New Zealand dollar edged higher against its U.S. counterpart on Thursday, but gains were expected to remain limited as hopes for a U.S. rate hike before the end of the year continued to support demand for the greenback.
Trading volumes were expected to remain limited with U.S. markets closed for the Thanksgiving holiday.
NZD/USD hit 0.6597 during late Asian trade, the pair's highest since November 20; the pair subsequently consolidated at 0.6588, adding 0.14%.
The pair was likely to find support at 0.6499, the low of November 24 and resistance at 0.6608, the high of November 20.
The greenback remained broadly supported after a string of upbeat U.S. data on Wednesday added to expectations that the Federal Reserve will raise interest rates next month.
The U.S. Commerce Department reported on Wednesday that new home sales rose by 10.7% to 495,000 units last month, compared to expectations for a gain of 6.0% to 500,000.
The report came shortly after the U.S. Department of Labor said the number of individuals filing for initial jobless benefits in the week ending November 21 declined by 12,000 to 260,000 from the previous week’s revised total of 272,000.
Data also showed that U.S. durable goods orders jumped by 3.0% last month, easily surpassing forecasts for 1.5%, while core durable goods orders, which exclude volatile transportation items, rose 0.5% in October, compared to expectations for an increase of 0.3%.
The kiwi was higher against the Australian dollar, with AUD/NZD declining 0.54% to 1.0963.
Earlier Thursday, the Australian Bureau of Statistics said that private capital expenditure declined by 9.2% in the third quarter, compared to expectations for a 3.0% drop. Private capital expenditure fell 4.4% in the second quarter, whose figure was revised from a previously estimated 4.0% slide.