Investing.com - The New Zealand dollar edged lower against its U.S. counterpart on Tuesday, after the release of downbeat trade balance data from New Zealand, although losses were limited as Monday's U.S. weak housing data continued to weigh on the greenback.
NZD/USD hit 0.6742 during late Asian trade, the session low; the pair subsequently consolidated at 0.6778, slipping 0.15%.
The pair was likely to find support at 0.6693, the low of October 21 and resistance at 0.6873, the high of October 23.
Statistics New Zealand reported earlier that the country's trade deficit widened to NZ$1.22 million in September from NZ$1.03 million the previous month. Analysts had expected the trade deficit to narrow to NZ$800 million last month.
But demand for the greenback remained under pressure after data on Monday showed that U.S. new home sales dropped 11.5% last month to 468.000 units from a revised total of 529.000 units in August. Analysts had expected new home sales to slip 0.4% to 550.000 in September.
The disappointing report added to speculation that the Federal Reserve will hold off on raising interest rates until well into 2016.
Investors were looking ahead to Wednesday’s monetary policy announcement by the Fed for fresh indications on the timing of an initial rate hike.
The kiwi was also lower against the euro, with EUR/NZD edging up 0.13% to 1.6316.