NZD/USD ends 2-day rally, surrenders 0.73 handle

The New Zealand dollar dropped for the first time in three days versus its American counterpart in the Asian hours this session, sending NZD/USD back below 0.73 handle.

NZD/USD looks to test key support at 0.7267

Currently, the NZD/USD pair drops -0.26% to 0.7284, hovering near session lows struck at 0.7279 in the last hour.  The Kiwi failed to sustain the bullish momentum and turned negative this Wednesday amid persistent weakness in oil prices and a stronger US dollar posed a double whammy to the major.

The resource-linked NZD suffered from yesterday’s heavy losses in oil prices amid ongoing uncertainty between the OPEC and non-OPEC producers on oil output agreement. While upbeat US consumer confidence and services PMI data rescued the USD bulls and boosted the greenback at the expense of the NZ dollar.

The Kiwi remains the worst performer so far this session; with markets now await the Chinese consumer sentiment numbers amid a data-light Asian session. Later today, US durable goods data and Yellen’s testimony will take center-stage, while the weekly crude stockpiles report will be also published by the EIA.

NZD/USD Levels to consider

To the upside, the next resistance is located at 0.7297 (daily pivot), above which it could extend gains to at 0.7332 (Sept 27 high). To the downside immediate support might be located at 0.7267 (5 & 50-DMA) and from there to at 0.7220 (Sept 23 & 26 low).