NZD/USD looks for direction near 0.6460, RBA, coronavirus in focus

NZD/USD remains on the back foot while declining to the intra-day low of 0.6455 during the Asian session on Tuesday. In doing so, the pair stays close to December 2019 lows while also refraining to break the yearly low around 0.6453.

The latest data from New Zealand suggests that the seasonally adjusted Building Permits grew far more than -0.3% forecast to +9.9%. Even so, buyers failed to return as statistics from China and Moody’s concern relating to coronavirus weighed on the market’s risk tone.

Also negatively affecting the trading sentiment could be the news that South Korean giant Hyundai has to stop some production amid the lack of supplies from China. Furthermore, monetary policy meeting by the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) also makes the kiwi traders a little nervous ahead of the interest rate decision from the largest customer.

With this, the US 10-year treasury yields stay mostly directionless near 1.525% whereas S&P 500 Futures also matches the previous day’s close around 3,245 by the press time.

Although the RBA isn’t expected to alter its current monetary policy, its likely dovish bias may keep downside pressure on the NZD/USD pair. Furthermore, New Zealand’s latest close trade ties with China make the pair a bit heavier ahead of Friday’s key employment data.

Technical Analysis

Highs marked during late-October and November 2019, around 0.6440/35, will keep luring the bears unless prices close beyond a 100-day SMA level of 0.6470.