NZD/USD retraces losses to 0.6050 amid trade war fears, virus worries

NZD/USD clings to modest gains, around 0.10% now, while taking rising to 0.6057 in the early Tuesday’s Asian session. The pair registered mild losses the previous day, amid the US-China tussle, but fails to gain momentum off-late.

That said, the latest catalysts like New Zealand’s Building Permits, also failed to impress the kiwi traders. The housing market data slumped 23.1% in March versus the previous growth of 5.7% (revised).

Even so, the late-US session recovery helped the quote to recover some of its early-Monday losses.

US President Donald Trump alleged researches at China’s Wuhan Laboratory to be the reason for the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak. Though, the absence of any proof pushed the World Health Organization (WHO) to defy the US claims.

Also might have supported the pair’s pullback could be the report from the Sky News. The news suggested the development of an antibody that can tame the infection of the deadly virus.

Furthermore, the reducing global fatality rate, as per the Reuters tally, adds strength to the pair’s upside momentum.

However, the US-China tension is still looming as US President claimed on Monday that China doesn’t respect the trade deal. The Republican leader also suggested that he may cancel the accord if the other party fails to purchase US goods.

As a result, traders are still waiting for the strong direction that could be gained from the RBA meeting. Though, New Zealand’s ANZ Commodity Price Index, prior -2.1%, for April could offer intermediate moves to the pair.

While the RBA isn’t expected to alter its current monetary policy, economic forecasts and rate statement will be the key to watch.

Technical analysis

NZD/USD clings to 50-day SMA above 21-day SMA and an ascending trend line from March 23. While the sellers will need sustained trading below 0.6020 to aim for 0.6000 mark, buyers may wait for an upside clearance of 0.6100 for fresh entries.