NZD/USD climbs above 0.7200 as focus shifts to US PMI data
- NZD/USD is rising for the second straight day on Friday.
- US Dollar Index stays below 90.00 ahead of US PMI data.
- Wall Street's main indexes look to build on Thursday's gains.
The NZD/USD pair managed to register modest gains on Thursday and continued to edge higher on Friday. As of writing, the pair was gaining 0.18% on a daily basis at 0.7215.
Investors await US PMI data
The USD's market valuation remains the primary driver of NZD/USD's movements ahead of the weekend. Following Wednesday's upsurge on the back of the FOMC's hawkish Minutes, the US Dollar Index (DXY) struggled to preserve its bullish momentum and closed in the negative territory on Thursday. Currently, the DXY little changed on the day at 89.77.
In the absence of significant fundamental drivers, the risk-positive market environment seems to be weighing on the USD. At the moment, the S&P Futures and the Nasdaq Futures both rise around 0.4%, suggesting that the greenback will find it difficult to find demand in the second half of the day.
Later in the session, the IHS Markit will release May's preliminary Services and Manufacturing PMI reports for the US. Investors expect these reports to show that business activity in the private sector continued to expand at a robust pace.
Meanwhile, the benchmark 10-year US Treasury bond yield is flat on the day at 1.625%, helping USD limit its losses for the time being.
Technical levels to watch for