NZD/USD showed steadiness after Bernanke comments

New Zealand dollar traded steadily against its US peer during the early Friday session, as demand for the kiwi dollar was supported.

NZD/USD hit a session high at 0.7919 at 3:31 GMT, after which consolidation followed at 0.7910, still up by 0.08% for the day. Support was expected at July 16th low, 0.7800, while resistance was to be encountered at July 11th high, 0.7969.

Kiwi dollar declined against the greenback on Thursday, following the second day of the congressional testimony by FED Chairman Ben Bernanke, who reiterated that the central bank could begin to scale back its Quantitative Easing by the end of this year, if economy continued the process of gradual recovery. However, the Chairman also said that the monetary policy was not on a “preset course”, meaning the bank’s bond purchasing program could be tapered at a faster pace, slower pace or even temporarily increased, if economic conditions allowed so.

After recording gains broadly against peers, US dollar showed a certain retreat on Friday, as market players locked their profits, following the upbeat economic data, released from the United States on Thursday. the Department of Labor reported that the number of people, who filed for unemployment assistance in the United States decreased significantly during the week ended on July 13th 2013, implying that employers continued hiring new employees. During last week the number of claims diminished by 24 000 to 334 000, while results during the preceding week were revised down to 358 000 from 360 000 previously. In addition, Philadelphia FED Index demonstrated the largest rate of increase since March 2011, advancing to a reading of 19.8 in July from 12.5 in June. Preliminary estimates pointed that the index will decrease to a value of 8.0. This result spoke of an increased optimism over activity in the sector of manufacturing, which could also bring higher hopes of a better economic growth results.

Meanwhile, NZD/JPY cross ticked down 0.04% to reach 79.34, while AUD/NZD pair erased a mere 0.05% to 1.1606.