Investing.com - The New Zealand dollar edged higher against its U.S. counterpart in choppy trade on Monday, but gains were capped by downbeat manufacturing data from China, while Friday's U.S. economic reports continued to limit the greenback's gains.
NZD/USD hit 0.6572 during late Asian trade, the session low; the pair subsequently consolidated at 0.6597, up 0.10%.
The pair was likely to find support at 0.6531, Friday's low and resistance at 0.6682, Friday's high.
Data earlier showed that China's Caixin manufacturing purchasing managers' index ticked down to 47.8 in July from 48.2 the previous month. Analysts had expected the index to rise to 48.3 this month.
China is New Zealand's second biggest export partner.
Meanwhile, the greenback's gains were limited after the Labor Department reported on Friday that U.S. employment costs rose 0.2%, the lowest gain since 1982, compared to expectations for a 0.6% increase.
The University of Michigan also said on Friday that its consumer sentiment index ticked down to 93.1 in July from 93.3 the previous month, confounding expectations for a rise to 94.0.
The kiwi was steady against the Australian dollar, with AUD/NZD at 1.1074.
Also Monday, data showed that job advertisements in Australia fell 0.4% last month after an increase of 1.2% in June, whose figure was revised from a previously estimated 1.3% gain.