NZD/USD gains traction to around 0.6035 in Thursday’s early Asian session.
US ISM Services PMI unexpectedly contracted in May, the first time in nearly a year.
The RBNZ might slow the pace of rate cuts as uncertainty grows.
The NZD/USD pair extends the rally to around 0.6035 during the early Asian session on Thursday. The US Dollar (USD) softens against the New Zealand Dollar (NZD) due to the concern over mounting economic and political uncertainty in the US economy. Investors await the Chinese Caixin Services PMI, which is due later on Thursday.
The weaker-than-expected US economic data released on Wednesday exert some selling pressure on the Greenback and create a tailwind for the pair. Data released by the Institute for Supply Management (ISM) revealed that the US Services Purchasing Managers Index (PMI) declined to 49.9 versus 51.6 prior. This reading came in weaker than the market expectation of 52.0.
Additionally, US ADP private sector employment rose 37,000 in May, compared to a 60,000 increase (revised from 62,000) recorded in April, missed the market expectation of 115,000 by a wide margin.
The expectation that the Reserve Bank of New Zealand (RBNZ) will slow the pace of interest rate cuts as uncertainty grows could provide some support to the Kiwi. “While the RBNZ downgraded its economic forecasts compared to February and emphasized the high degree of uncertainty around global conditions, there was a surprising amount of caution around the timing and extent of further OCR cuts,” said Westpac senior economist Michael Gordon.
Investors will closely monitor the developments surrounding the US and China trade talks. US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on Sunday that Trump and Xi Jinping were expected to meet soon to resolve trade disputes, although on Monday there was an from China's Commerce Ministry of US accusations that Beijing violated their trade agreement. Any sign of signs of renewed trade tensions could undermine the China-proxy Kiwi as China is a major trading partner of New Zealand.
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