NZD/USD remains below 200-day MA despite dovish Fed, China manufacturing PMI stalled in November

• The NZD/USD pair remains below the 200-day moving average for the third day straight.
• The Fed's dovish shift has likely been priced-in.
• China factory growth unexpectedly stalled in November.

Kiwi is struggling to move past the 200-day moving average (MA) for the third day straight.  

The inability to cross the long-term MA hurdle is somewhat surprising, as the Fed minutes, released yesterday, underpinned the notion that the ongoing tightening cycle could end soon.

The market, however, was never expecting more than two rate hikes in 2019. Further, investors had scaled back expectations to just one rate hike well before Powell's speech. Simply put, the Fed's dovish shift has already been priced in. This possibly explains NZD's failure to cut through the 200-day MA.

Also, official China PMI, released at 01:00 GMT, showed the manufacturing sector unexpectedly stalled in November, underscoring concerns about a slowing economy. The dismal Chinese data could be capping the upside in NZD.

That said, the long-term MA resistance could be scaled if the equities pick up a strong bid ahead of Trump-Xi meeting.

NZD/USD Technical Levels