NZD/USD refreshes 2.5-year high on strong China PMI above 0.7400

NZD/USD takes the bids near 0.7050 during the Asian session on Monday. In doing so, the kiwi pair rises to a fresh high since June 2018 after China’s official activity numbers backed the recent upside momentum.

China’s NBS Manufacturing PMI grew past-51.5 forecast and 51.4 previous to 52.1 while the Non-Manufacturing PMI crossed 56.2 prior and 52.1 expected with 56.4 in November.

Read: China data dump beats expectations

Earlier in the day, New Zealand’s ANZ Business Confidence, Activity Outlook numbers for November also marked trade-positive figures. Details suggest that the Business Confidence recovered from -15.6 to -6.9 whereas Activity Outlook rose past-4.6% previous readouts to 9.1%.

Global trade sentiment remains cautiously optimistic amid hopes of the coronavirus (COVID-19) getting boosts from likely approval from various regulatory authorities in the UK, Europe and the US. However, fears of the surge in the pandemic before the vaccine hit the floor join Western tussle with China and Brexit uncertainty to challenge the bulls.

Even so, New Zealand’s NZX 50 part ways from S&P 500 Futures and major Asia-Pacific indices while making 0.30% intraday gains. In the background, we can mention that the Jacinda Ardern-led government’s ability to tame the deadly virus at home joins the RBNZ’s clear no for negative rates.

Moving on, risk catalysts are likely to remain as the key drivers while the bulls may also cheer the US dollar weakness.

Technical analysis

The mid-2018 top, close to 0.7065, lures the bulls unless the quote declines below the 0.7000 threshold.