Investing.com - The New Zealand dollar rose to three-week highs against its U.S. counterpart on Monday, after strong retail sales data from New Zealand and as demand for the greenback remained under pressure after a recent batch of disappointing U.S. data.
NZD/USD hit 0.7516 during late Asian trade, the pair's highest since January 23; the pair subsequently consolidated at 0.7503, advancing 0.64%.
The pair was likely to find support at 0.7408, the low of January 13 and resistance at 0.7584, the high of January 22.
The New Zealand dollar was boosted after official data showed that retail sales rose rose 1.7% in the fourth quarter of 2014, beating expectations for an increase of 1.3%, after a 1.6% gain in the previous quarter.
Core retail sales, which exclude automobiles and gas stations, rose 1.5% in the last quarter, exceeding expectations for a 1.1% gain and after a 1.5% increase in the three months to September.
Meanwhile, the greenback remained under pressure after data on Friday showed that the preliminary reading of the University of Michigan’s consumer sentiment index fell to 93.6, down from January’s final reading of 98.1. Economists had forecast an unchanged figure.
The report came a day after data showing that U.S. retail sales unexpectedly fell 0.8% last month after dropping 0.9% in December, indicating that consumer spending remained sluggish at the start of the year.
The kiwi was also higher against the Australian dollar, with AUD/NZD shedding 0.28% to 1.0377.
Also Monday, the Australian Bureau of Statistics reported that new motor vehicle sales dropped 1.5% last month, after a 2.6% rise in December, whose figure was revised from a previously estimated increase of 3.0%.