NZD/USD little changed ahead of New Zealand employment report

New Zealand dollar traded little changed against its US counterpart on Tuesday, as market players awaited the report on employment in New Zealand due out later in the day, while at the same time, Federal Reserve Bank officials fueled speculation that a near-term scale back of Feds stimulus program was not likely.

NZD/USD fell to a session low at 0.8260 at 3:30 GMT, after which consolidation followed at 0.8282, dipping a mere 0.02% for the day. Support for the pair was likely to be found at October 30th low, 0.8193, while resistance was to be met at October 25th high, 0.8338.

Unemployment rate in New Zealand probably dropped to 6.1% during the third quarter of the year, according to the median estimate of experts, after it stood at 6.4% in the preceding quarter. Employment in the country, on the other hand, rose 0.5% in Q3 compared to Q2, after a 0.4% gain in the second quarter. Annually, employment probably climbed 1.6% in the third quarter of the year, following a 0.7% climb in Q2. Official data is to be released at 21:45 GMT today.

Meanwhile, comments made by Federal Reserve officials signaled that the central bank will probably maintain the current monthly pace of its stimulus for some time.

“Monetary policy is likely to need to remain accommodative for some time so that we can achieve full employment within a reasonable forecast horizon,” Boston Fed President Eric Rosengren, who votes on monetary policy this year, said in a speech in Boston on Monday, cited by Bloomberg. “The economy remains challenged.”

Richmond Fed President Jeffrey Lacker is to take a statement on the labor market in Charlotte, North Carolina on Tuesday. Earlier in November he said that the probability of another recession was “bigger than we thought.”

US Gross Domestic Product probably expanded at a 2% annualized rate during the third quarter of the year, slowing down in comparison with the previous three months, when the GDP grew 2.5%, according to the median estimate in another survey. The official report is expected on November 7th. US non-farm payrolls rose by 120 000 employees in October after an increase by 148 000 in September, the Department of Labor may report on November 8th.

Later on trading Tuesday the ISM is expected to announce that its non-manufacturing index probably fell to a four-month low of 54.0 in October from a reading of 54.4 in September, according to the median estimate of experts participated in a poll by Bloomberg.

Elsewhere, the kiwi dollar was higher against the euro, with EUR/NZD cross falling 0.22% on a daily basis to trade at 1.6281 at 8:01 GMT. AUD/NZD pair was losing 0.42% to trade at 1.1438 at 8:06 GMT.