NZD Suffers as Unemployment Hits Nine-Year High
The New Zealand Dollar (NZD) took a hit on Wednesday as the country's unemployment rate rose to a nine-year high, exceeding market expectations. The NZD/USD pair declined by 0.54% to around 0.5860 at the time of writing.
Data released by Statistics New Zealand showed that the unemployment rate increased to 5.6% in the second quarter, up from 5.3% previously and above the market consensus of 5.4%. This marks the highest level since 2015, indicating a deterioration in the labor market.
The Reserve Bank of New Zealand (RBNZ) may now be less inclined to tighten monetary policy, weighing on the NZD. Traders are looking ahead to upcoming US macroeconomic releases, including the ADP Employment Change report and the Institute for Supply Management (ISM) Services Purchasing Managers Index (PMI), before the official US employment report.
The technical analysis suggests a mildly bearish intraday bias, with support at 0.5860 and 0.5849, and resistance around 0.5896.