NZD/USD resumes its down-trend, drops back below 0.6800 handle

After fading its spike to 0.6850 on Thursday, the NZD/USD pair dropped back below 0.6800 handle on slight lower-than-expected quarterly retail sales data from New-Zealand.

The pair on Thursday was trading with small gains on the back of improvement in Business NZ Manufacturing Index and sharp rise in US unemployment claims. Thursday's rise was over and above the pair's strength on Wednesday after RBNZ released its Financial Stability Report.

Technically the pair rebounded from lower levels to retest a medium-term ascending trend-channel support break-point turned immediate resistance near 0.6850 and resumed its previous trend. Hence, a follow through selling pressure below 0.6780-60 horizontal zone seems to continue dragging the pair lower in the near-term.

Technical levels to watch

On a sustained weakness below 0.6780 support the pair seems to extend its weakening trend, initially towards 0.6700 round figure mark support and eventually towards the very important 200-day SMA support near 0.6645-40 region.

On the upside, weekly high near 0.6850 level now seems to have emerged as immediate strong resistance, which if cleared could assist the pair towards 0.6900 round figure mark. This 0.6900 mark might now cap any near-term upside for the pair.