Investing.com - The New Zealand dollar edged higher against its U.S. counterpart on Monday, but the greenback still remained broadly supported by Friday’s upbeat U.S. wage growth data.
NZD/USD hit 0.6644 during late Asian trade, the session high; the pair subsequently consolidated at 0.6640, adding 0.24%.
The pair was likely to find support at 0.6611, Friday’s low and resistance at 0.6748, the high of February 4.
The greenback remained supported after the U.S. Department of Labor reported on Friday that average hourly earnings rose 0.5% last month and were up 2.5% on a year-over-year basis.
The pick-up in wage growth bolstered the outlook for inflation and increased the likelihood that the Federal Reserve could raise interest rates this year.
The report also showed that the economy created 151,000 jobs last month, the lowest number since September and less than the 190,000 forecast by economists’.
Despite the slowdown in jobs growth the unemployment rate fell to 4.9%, the lowest level since February 2008.
The kiwi was lower against the Australian dollar, with AUD/NZD edging up 0.16% to 1.0686.