NZDUSD Rises as New Zealand Retail Sales Bounce Back

Summary:

The NZDUSD pair rose in the Asian session as investors reacted to the strong electronic retail sales numbes from New Zealand ahead of US CPI

The NZDUSD price is rising today as the market reacts to the strong New Zealand electronic card sales data. The pair is trading at 0.6655, which is the highest it has been since yesterday’s morning session.

The retail industry is among the biggest employers in most countries, which makes retail sales a leading indicator on the state of the economy. Earlier today, we received strong electronic card retail sales from New Zealand.

According to Statistics New Zealand, electronic card sales rose by 5.4% in September as the country eased the previous lockdown measures. In August, the sales had slumped by almost 9%. The sales rose by 7.3% on an annualised basis after falling by 0.8% in the previous month. Most of the six tracked sectors recorded impressive growth. The only laggards were the fuel and accommodation industries.

These numbers show that the New Zealand economy is in a strong path towards recovery helped by how the government has responded to the pandemic. Data from the government show that only 25 people have died from the virus.

The NZDUSD is rising even as the US dollar remains relatively strong ahead of the US CPI data and corporate earnings. Analysts believe that consumer prices in the country rose slightly in September as the number of Covid-19 cases continued to rise.

NZDUSD technical outlook

The hourly chart below shows that the NZDUSD bounced back after it fell to the pivot point level of 0.6630. At the current price of 0.6655, the price is slightly below the important resistance level of 0.6657, which was the highest point on October 1, 4, and 5. It is also slightly below last week’s high of 0.6675.

Therefore, I suspect that the price will continue rising today as bulls aim for 0.6675. In this case, the invalidation point will be yesterday’s low of 0.6630. A move below this level will send a signal that there are still sellers in the market who will be keen of pushing the price below 0.6600. Learn to trade with our free forex trading courses.