Investing.com - The New Zealand dollar was lower against its U.S. counterpart on Thursday, as concerns ahead of a Spanish bond auction and after weak Chinese data weighed on demand for riskier assets.
NZD/USD hit 0.7950 during late Asian trade, the daily low; the pair subsequently consolidated at 0.7950, shedding 0.24%.
The pair was likely to find support at 0.7881, the low of November 4 and resistance at 0.8031, the high of October 21.
Spain was due to sell up to EUR5 billion euros of government bonds maturing in 2015 and 2016 a day before Italy’s Treasury planned to auction EUR4.75 billion of five-year bonds.
The yield on Spanish 10-year bonds was at 5.36%, while the yield on 10-year Italian government bonds remained just the 7% threshold seen as unsustainable, at 7.04%.
Markets were also eyeing the European Central Bank’s policy meeting later Thursday. The ECB was expected to keep rates unchanged at 1% and to reiterate that governments in the euro zone must step up efforts to tackle the region’s debt crisis.
On Wednesday, Fitch ratings agency said the ECB should ramp up its buying of troubled euro zone debt to support Italy and prevent a "cataclysmic" collapse of the euro.
Meanwhile, sentiment was also hit after data showed that Chinese consumer price inflation eased to 4.1% in December, its lowest level in 15 months, from 4.2% the previous month.
Elsewhere, the kiwi was lower against the Australian dollar with AUD/NZD adding 0.16%, to hit 1.2951.
Later in the day, the U.S. was to release official data on retail sales and initial jobless claims.
NZD/USD hit 0.7950 during late Asian trade, the daily low; the pair subsequently consolidated at 0.7950, shedding 0.24%.
The pair was likely to find support at 0.7881, the low of November 4 and resistance at 0.8031, the high of October 21.
Spain was due to sell up to EUR5 billion euros of government bonds maturing in 2015 and 2016 a day before Italy’s Treasury planned to auction EUR4.75 billion of five-year bonds.
The yield on Spanish 10-year bonds was at 5.36%, while the yield on 10-year Italian government bonds remained just the 7% threshold seen as unsustainable, at 7.04%.
Markets were also eyeing the European Central Bank’s policy meeting later Thursday. The ECB was expected to keep rates unchanged at 1% and to reiterate that governments in the euro zone must step up efforts to tackle the region’s debt crisis.
On Wednesday, Fitch ratings agency said the ECB should ramp up its buying of troubled euro zone debt to support Italy and prevent a "cataclysmic" collapse of the euro.
Meanwhile, sentiment was also hit after data showed that Chinese consumer price inflation eased to 4.1% in December, its lowest level in 15 months, from 4.2% the previous month.
Elsewhere, the kiwi was lower against the Australian dollar with AUD/NZD adding 0.16%, to hit 1.2951.
Later in the day, the U.S. was to release official data on retail sales and initial jobless claims.