NZD/USD wobbles on employment change miss, testing 0.5800

New Zealand Employment Change misses expectations, looses jobs instead of meager gain.
RBNZ Financial Stability Report reveals little new for investors to chew on.
Broader market will shift attention to Wednesday's upcoming Fed rate call.

Joshua Gibson FXStreet

The NZD/USD saw mild declines on Tuesday as broad-market sentiment tips in favor of the US Dollar (USD), taking the Kiwi (NZD) down from opening bids near 0.5840 after hitting a new, albeit minor high for the week near 0.5860.

The Kiwi's downside pressure is set to continue through Wednesday as New Zealand saw an unexpected contraction in employment figures and the Reserve Bank of New Zealand's (RBNZ) Financial Stability Report (FSR) revealed little of note for investors to be concerned about.

New Zealand's Employment Change for the 3rd quarter unexpectedly contracted, printing at -0.2% against the previous quarter's 1% gain, missing the forecast 0.4% that NZD traders expected. Despite the miss, NZ's overall Employment Rate printed at expectations, coming in at the forecast 3.9% against the 2nd quarter's 3.6%, so overall market effect was restrained.

RBNZ Governor Adrian Orr delivered the NZ central bank's latest FSR, with the RBNZ head noting that significant risks remain on the horizon as New Zealand households and businesses continue to grapple with higher debt servicing costs. The NZ financial system is still adjusting to a higher-rate environment, and the RBNZ looks unlikely to raise rates any time soon as the central bank remains leery of potential declines or deterioration in asset quality.

Markets will now turn their eyes to Wednesday's Federal Reserve (Fed) rate call, where markets are expecting the US central bank to keep rates where they are, but investor bets of one last 25-basis-point rate hike to close out the year are on the rise in the face of firm US economic data and sticky inflation metrics that refuse to decline on-pace with market expectations.

NZD/USD Technical Outlook

The Kiwi continues to waffle into the low end of the charts, but there's only so far the NZD can fall, and the pair is struggling to extend further declines below 0.5800 despite broad-market US Dollar strength.

Bullish recovery still sees significant technical resistance, with the 50-day Simple Moving Average (SMA) descending into the 0.5900 handle region, and the NZD/USD continues to test the waters on the low end of 2023's prices.

NZD/USD Daily Chart

NZD/USD Technical Levels

NZD/USD

Overview
Today last price	0.5808
Today Daily Change	-0.0035
Today Daily Change %	-0.60
Today daily open	0.5843

Trends
Daily SMA20	0.59
Daily SMA50	0.5918
Daily SMA100	0.6032
Daily SMA200	0.6131

Levels
Previous Daily High	0.5846
Previous Daily Low	0.5805
Previous Weekly High	0.5874
Previous Weekly Low	0.5772
Previous Monthly High	0.605
Previous Monthly Low	0.5847
Daily Fibonacci 38.2%	0.583
Daily Fibonacci 61.8%	0.582
Daily Pivot Point S1	0.5816
Daily Pivot Point S2	0.579
Daily Pivot Point S3	0.5775
Daily Pivot Point R1	0.5858
Daily Pivot Point R2	0.5873
Daily Pivot Point R3	0.5899

Author

Joshua Gibson

FXStreet

Joshua joins the FXStreet team as an Economics and Finance double major from Vancouver Island University with twelve years' experience as an independent trader focusing on technical analysis.

Markets move fast. We move first.

Orange Juice Newsletter brings you expert driven insights - not headlines. Every day on your inbox.

Editor's Picks

EUR/USD falls toward 1.1700 on broad USD recovery

EUR/USD turns south and declines toward 1.1700 on Wednesday. The US Dollar gathers recovery momentum and forces the pair to stay on the back foor, as traders look to USD short-covering ahead of US inflation report on Thursday. However, the downside could be capped by hawkish ECB expectations.

GBP/USD trades deep in red below 1.3350 after soft UK inflation data

GBP/USD stays under strong selling pressure midweek and trades below 1.3350. The UK annual headline and core CPI rose by 3.2% each, missing estimates of 3.5% and 3.4%, respectively, reaffirming dovish BoE expectations and smashing the Pound Sterling across the board ahead of Thurday's BoE policy announcements.

Gold clings to moderate daily gains above $4,300

Following Tuesday's volatile action, Gold regains its traction on Wednesday and trades in positive territory above $4,300. While the buildup in the USD recovery momentum caps XAU/USD's upside, the cautious market stance helps the pair hold its ground.