NZD/USD posts modest losses below 0.7250 as markets await Powell's speech

NZD/USD is trading in a relatively narrow band on Thursday.
Sour market mood is helping USD find demand.
Focus shifts to FOMC Chairman Powell's speech at 1705 GMT.

Eren Sengezer FXStreet

The NZD/USD pair staged a modest rebound following Wednesday's decline but failed to preserve its momentum. As of writing, the pair was posting small daily losses at 0.7242.

Earlier in the day, Reserve Bank of New Zealand (RBNZ) Governor Adrian Orr said that they need to have stimulatory monetary conditions in order to achieve their mandate and added that there is still health-related economic uncertainty. These comments made it difficult for the kiwi to gather strength against its rivals during the first half of the day.

USD capitalizes on safe-haven flows

On the other hand, the risk-averse market environment is providing a boost to the greenback on Thursday and not allowing NZD/USD to gain traction. The US Dollar Index is currently up 0.25% on the day at 91.16.

Reflecting the cautious market mood ahead of FOMC Chairman Jerome Powell' speech on the US economy at the Wall Street Journal jobs summit at 1705 GMT, the S&P 500 Futures are losing 0.3%.

Powell Preview: Three scenarios for the Fed to defuse the bond bonfire, market implications.

Later in the day, the US Department of Labor's weekly Initial Jobless Claims report and the US Census Bureau's January Factory Orders data will be featured in the US economic docket as well.

There won't be any macroeconomic data releases from New Zealand on Friday and the USD's market valuation is likely to remain the primary driver of NZD/USD's movements in the near term.

Technical levels to watch for

NZD/USD

Overview
Today last price	0.7244
Today Daily Change	-0.0004
Today Daily Change %	-0.06
Today daily open	0.7248

Trends
Daily SMA20	0.7258
Daily SMA50	0.7203
Daily SMA100	0.7045
Daily SMA200	0.6809

Levels
Previous Daily High	0.7305
Previous Daily Low	0.7237
Previous Weekly High	0.7466
Previous Weekly Low	0.7223
Previous Monthly High	0.7466
Previous Monthly Low	0.7135
Daily Fibonacci 38.2%	0.7263
Daily Fibonacci 61.8%	0.7279
Daily Pivot Point S1	0.7222
Daily Pivot Point S2	0.7196
Daily Pivot Point S3	0.7154
Daily Pivot Point R1	0.729
Daily Pivot Point R2	0.7332
Daily Pivot Point R3	0.7358

Author

Eren Sengezer

FXStreet

As an economist at heart, Eren Sengezer specializes in the assessment of the short-term and long-term impacts of macroeconomic data, central bank policies and political developments on financial assets.

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