Investing.com - The New Zealand dollar climbed higher against its U.S. counterpart on Thursday, boosted by strong retail sales data from New Zealand and as the previous session's U.S. data continued to weigh on demand for the greenback.
NZD/USD hit 0.7564 during late Asian trade, the pair's highest since May 6; the pair subsequently consolidated at 0.7555, advancing 0.91%.
The pair was likely to find support at 0.7419, the low of May 8 and resistance at 0.7581, the high of May 5.
Statistics New Zealand earlier reported that retail sales increased by 2.7% in the first quarter, exceeding expectations for a 1.5% rise, after a 1.7% gain in the three months to December.
Core retail sales, which exclude automobiles and gas stations, rose 2.9% in the three months to March, beating expectations for a 1.5% gain. The change in core retails for the last quarter of 2014 was revised to a 1.9% increase from a previously estimated 1.5% rise.
A separate report showed that New Zealand's Business Manufacturing Index slipped to 51.8 last month from 54.6 in March, whose figure was revised from a previously estimated reading of 54.5.
Meanwhile, the greenback remained under pressure after the U.S. Commerce Department said on Wednesday that retail sales were unchanged, compared to expectations for a 0.2% increase.
Core retail sales, which exclude automobile sales, rose just 0.1%, undershooting forecasts for a 0.5% gain.
The data underlined expectations that the Federal Reserve will delay hiking rates until later in the year, after recent figures showed that the U.S. economy expanded just 0.2% in the first quarter.
The kiwi was higher against the euro, with EUR/NZD declining 0.39% to 1.5110.
Later in the day, the U.S. was to publish reports on producer prices and initial jobless claims.