Investing.com - The New Zealand dollar rose to over four-month highs against its U.S. counterpart on Thursday, while investors awaited the European Central Bank's monthly policy statement later in the trading session.
NZD/USD hit 0.8444 during late Asian trade, the pair's highest since October 24; the pair subsequently consolidated at 0.8442, adding 0.31%.
The pair was likely to find support at 0.8354, the low of March 4 and resistance at 0.8520, the high of October 23.
The ECB was expected to hold off cutting rates later Thursday but was expected to take other steps to tighten policy, amid ongoing concerns over the subdued inflation outlook for the euro area.
The kiwi was lower against the Australian dollar, with AUD/NZD edging up 0.11% to 1.0687.
Also Thursday, official data showed that retail sales in Australia rose 1.2% in January, beating expectations for a 0.5% gain. Retail sales in December were revised up to a 0.7% increase from a previously estimated 0.5% rise.
A separate report showed that Australia's trade surplus expanded to A$1.43 billion in January from A$0.59 billion in December, whose figure was revised up from a previously estimates surplus of A$0.47 billion.
Analysts had expected the trade surplus to narrow to A$0.27 billion in January.
Later in the day, the U.S. was to publish the weekly report on initial jobless claims and data on factory orders.