Investing.com - The New Zealand dollar was almost unchanged against its U.S. counterpart on Thursday, as comments by Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen weighed on demamd for the greenback.
NZD/USD hit 0.8648 during late Asian trade, the pair's highest since Tuesday; the pair subsequently consolidated at 0.8626, inching up 0.01%.
The pair was likely to find support at 0.8531, the low of April 4 and resistance at 0.8690, the high of April 14.
The greenback came under pressure after Fed Chair Janet Yellen said that monetary policy will need to remain accommodative for some time, citing slackness in the labor market and low inflation.
Ms. Yellen said the risks of persistently low consumer prices outweighed those of high inflation. She added that the central bank sees room for the U.S. unemployment rate to fall to between 5.2% and 5.6% by the end of 2016. The unemployment rate currently stands at 6.7%.
The kiwi was higher against the Australian dollar, with AUD/NZD slipping 0.13% to 1.0851.
Also Thursday, the National Australia Bank said its business confidence index ticked down to 6 in the first quarter, from a reading of 8 in the three months to December.
Data also showed that new motor vehicle sales in Australia fell by 0.3% in March, after a 0.1% slip in February, whose figure was revised down from a previously estimated 0.1% rise.
Later in the day, the U.S. was to publish data on initial jobless claims and a report on manufacturing activity in the Philadelphia region.