Forexpros - The New Zealand dollar edged lower against its U.S. counterpart on Thursday, as markets were jittery ahead of the European Central Bank’s policy meeting and the release of U.S. economic reports later in the day.
NZD/USD hit 0.8012 during late Asian trade, the pair’s lowest since July 2; the pair subsequently consolidated at 0.8029, inching down 0.09%.
The pair was likely to find support at 0.7936, the low of May 4 and resistance at 0.8105, the high of May 3.
The ECB was widely expected to announce an interest rate cut to 0.75% from the current record low 1.00% to help bolster growth in the region, following a recent string of weak economic data.
The ECB rate announcement was to be followed by a press conference with central bank head Mario Draghi to outline the reasons for the monetary policy decision and discuss the economic outlook for the euro area.
Meanwhile, markets were also eyeing Friday’s U.S. nonfarm payrolls report, amid speculation that the Federal Reserve could implement a third round of quantitative easing to shore up the economy, which has been hit by the ongoing crisis in the euro zone.
The kiwi was steady against the Australian dollar with AUD/NZD easing up 0.02%, to hit 1.2787.
Also Thursday, official data showed that Australia’s trade deficit widened-less-than expected in May, widening to AUD0.28 billion from a deficit of AUD0.26 billion the previous month. Analysts had expected the trade deficit to widen to AUD0.50 billion in May.
Later in the day, the U.S. was to publish a report by payroll processing firm ADP on non-farm employment change, followed by government data on unemployment claims. In addition, the Institute of Supply Management was to release a report on U.S. service sector activity.
