Investing.com - The New Zealand dollar dropped to two-and-a-half -month lows against its U.S. counterpart on Wednesday, weighed by the release of downbeat business confidence data from New Zealand, while upbeat U.S. data on Tuesday continued to boost the greenback.
NZD/USD hit 0.8534 during late Asian trade, the pair's lowest since March 12; the pair subsequently consolidated at 0.8500, retreating 0.75%.
The pair was likely to find support at 0.8439, the low of March 12 and resistance at 0.8632, the high of May 20.
Data earlier showed that the ANZ business confidence index for New Zealand fell to 53.5 this month, from a reading of 64.8 in April.
Meanwhile, the greenback remained supported after data on Tuesday showed that U.S. durable goods orders rose unexpectedly in April and another report showed that U.S. consumer confidence improved in line with forecasts this month.
The Commerce Department said orders for long lasting manufactured goods rose 0.8%, compared to expectations of a 0.7% decline.
Separately, the Conference Board reported that its consumer conference index rose to 83 in May, up from a revised 81.7 in April, in line with economists’ expectations.
The kiwi was lower against the euro, with EUR/NZD gaining 0.67% to 1.6028.