NZ Dollar Strengthens Amid Risk Appetite

The NZ dollar climbed against its major counterparts in the Asian session on Thursday, as Asian stock markets rose following the mostly positive cues overnight from Wall Street on optimism about a potential coronavirus vaccine as well as on upbeat U.S. manufacturing data.

Investors now look ahead to the U.S. Labor Department's closely watched monthly employment report for June to be released later today.

The report, which is expected to show another spike in employment, is likely to overshadow data on weekly jobless claims, the trade deficit and factory orders.

Sentiment improved after a Covid-19 vaccine developed by German biotech firm BioNTech and U.S. pharmaceutical giant Pfizer showed potential and was found well tolerated in early-stage human trials.

The kiwi climbed to 1.7319 against the euro, its strongest level since June 9. The kiwi is seen finding resistance around the 1.68 level.

The kiwi advanced to an 8-day high of 0.6507 against the greenback and more than a 2-week high of 69.94 against the yen, from its early lows of 0.6471 and 69.53, respectively. The next possible resistance for the kiwi is seen around 0.66 against the greenback and 0.72 against the yen.

The kiwi appreciated to a 10-day high of 1.0649 against the aussie, after falling to 1.0677 at 5:00 pm ET. On the upside, 1.045 is possibly seen as the next resistance level for the kiwi.

Data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics showed that Australia trade surplus increased moderately in May as the decline in imports exceeded the fall in exports.

The trade surplus increased to A$8.02 billion from A$7.83 billion in the previous month.

Looking ahead, Eurozone PPI and jobless rate for May are scheduled for release in the European session.

U.S. and Canadian trade data for May, U.S. jobs report for June, factory orders for May and weekly jobless claims for the week ended June 27 are due in the New York session.