Investing.com - The New Zealand dollar edged lower against its U.S. counterpart on Thursday, as Thursday's upbeat U.S. jobs data lent support to the greenback and as markets eyed additional reports to be released later in the day.
NZD/USD hit 0.8746 during late Asian trade, the pair's lowest since June 30; the pair subsequently consolidated at 0.8759, edging down 0.15%.
The pair was likely to find support at 0.8728, the low of June 30 and resistance at 0.8794.
The greenback remained supported after Wednesday’s ADP nonfarm payrolls report showed that the U.S private sector added 281,000 jobs last month, outstripping expectations for an increase of 200,000. It was the largest increase since November 2012.
The kiwi was higher against the Australian dollar, with AUD/NZD declining 0.66% to 1.0692.
The Aussie came under pressure after Reserve Bank of Australia Governor Glenn Stevens said the currency was "overvalued" by most measures.
In a speech delivered earlier in the day, Stevens added that investors are under-estimating the probability of a "significant fall" in the Australian dollar at some point.
Meanwhile, official data showed that retail sales in Australia fell 0.5% in May, confounding expectations for a 0.3% rise, after a 0.1% slip in April, whose figure was revised down from a previously estimated 0.2% increase.
A separate report showed that building approvals in Australia climbed 9.9% in May, exceeding expectations for a 3% rise, after a 5.8% drop in April, whose figure was revised down from a previously estimated 5.6% decline.
Later in the day, the U.S. was to publish data on the trade balance, as well as the weekly report on initial jobless claims, government data on nonfarm payrolls and the unemployment rate, one day ahead of schedule, before the fourth of July holiday. In addition, the Institute of Supply Management was to publish a report service sector activity.