Investing.com - The New Zealand dollar was higher against its U.S. counterpart on Monday, as Friday's disappointing U.S. employment data still weighed on demand for the greenback.
NZD/USD hit 0.8336 during early European trade, the pair's highest since November 20; the pair subsequently consolidated at 0.8335, rising 0.39%.
The pair was likely to find support at 0.8252, the low of January 8 and resistance at 0.8392, the high of November 19.
The greenback remained under pressure after Friday’s nonfarm payrolls report showed that the U.S. economy added 74,000 jobs in December, the smallest increase since January 2011 and well below expectations for 196,000 new jobs.
The unemployment rate fell to a five year low of 6.7% from 7% in November, but this was due in part to people dropping out of the labor force.
The surprisingly weak data tempered expectations that the Fed would cut its stimulus program again this month. The Fed cited a stronger labor market in its decision to cut its asset purchase program by USD10 billion in December, reducing it to USD75 billion-a-month.
The kiwi was lower against the Australian dollar, with AUD/NZD edging up 0.12% to 1.0848.
Also Monday, data showed that job advertizements in Australia dropped by 0.7% in December, after a 0.9% decline the previous month.A separate report showed that home loans in Australia rose 1.1% in November, exceeding expectations for a 1% increase, after an upwardly revised 1.1% rise in October.