NZD/USD rises as markets digest US economic activity and labor market data

• The NZD/USD trades positively at 0.6193 with a 0.20% gain in Thursday’s session.
• The US S&P Global PMIs from February came in mixed.
• Weekly Initial Jobless Claims from the US came in positive.
• If markets continue to bet on a more aggressive Fed the pair’s upside could be limited.

In Thursday’s trading, the NZD/USD pair has exhibited minor advancements, currently trading at the level of 0.6193, with a slight increase.

On the data front, the US S&P Global Composite PMI declined to 51.4 in February’s flash estimate from 52 in January, showing that the business activity in the US private sector continued to expand, albeit at a softer pace than in January. The Manufacturing PMI improved to 51.5 from 50.7 in the same period, while the S&P Global Services PMI edged lower to 51.3 from 52.5. In addition, Initial Jobless Claims from the week ending in February 16, came in lower than expected, further echoing the resilience of the US economy.

Despite the losses, the Greenback’s losses may be limited as incoming data may reaffirm the Federal Reserve’s stance to hold rates steady and delay the start of the easing cycle  the economy doesn’t show signs of cooling down. As for now, markets have practically given up on the odds of a cut in March and bet on low possibilities of the easing to start in May and instead, they push the first cut to June.

NZD/USD technical analysis

The daily Relative Strength Index (RSI) currently occupies a position within the positive territory, having gradually ascended from the negative area over consecutive trading sessions. A steadily increasing RSI implies that we may be experiencing a strengthening buyer dominance within the market.

Furthermore, the Moving Average Convergence Divergence (MACD) histogram is signaling bullish momentum from a series of rising green bars. Taken together, these metrics suggest an increased buying pressure for the NZD/USD pair over current trading.

NZD/USD daily chart