NZD/USD: Sellers continue to lurk, all eyes on Liu He’s Washington visit
- NZD/USD trades near 0.6850 before the London market opens on Thursday.
- he pair carried post-FOMC minutes losses forward.
- Developments on the trade negotiations between the US and China will be observed for fresh impulse.
The New Zealand Dollar (NZD) is little weak against the US Dollar (USD) to 0.6850 during early Thursday. The NZD/USD pair stretched its post-FOMC minutes losses overnight as antipodeans await clues from the two-day Washington visit by China’s Vice Premier Liu He.
With the minutes of the January 29-30 Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting stating several policymakers seeing rate-hikes in 2019 and a plan to stop reducing the Fed’s asset holdings later this year, the US Dollar registered across the board gains during late-Wednesday.
The greenback managed to extend gains overnight at the start of Thursday against the NZD as lack of big directives from New Zealand continued emphasizing on the recent upbeat minute report from the US central bank.
Looking forward, there are no big releases scheduled from New Zealand during Thursday, which in-turn shifts market to focus on the US-China trade talks as China is one of the largest NZ customers.
Having witnessed no major results of the US-Sino negotiations off-late, traders will closely observe details of how the Chinese President’s close aide manages to come closer to a trade deal with the US. It should also be noted that the February 21-22 meeting by Liu He is less likely to run smoothly as the US diplomats are likely to put challenging issue forward. Among them, property rights, economic restructure and Yuan manipulation are some grabbing market criticism and are a tough nut to crack.
Should there be any positives directing towards a successful trade accord between the world’s two largest economies, the NZD might benefit from the same.
NZD/USD Technical Analysis
Immediate support-line connecting February 14 and 19 lows, at 0.6820, followed by 0.6800, can limit the NZD/USD pair’s near-term declines, a break of which may recall 0.6770 on the chart.
Meanwhile, 0.6880 and 0.6890 seem nearby resistances to conquer for buyers ahead of looking at the 0.6905 and 0.6935 numbers to the north.