NZD/USD: Bulls keep reins around mid-0.6600 despite sluggish markets

• NZD/USD stays positive for a sixth consecutive day, probes one week high around 0.6650.
• US dollar weakness helps to ignore downbeat readings of New Zealand’s ANZ-Roy Morgan Consumer Confidence for September.
• China’s week-long holidays will join a light calendar elsewhere and the pre-NFP trading lull to restrict short-term market moves.
• Noises surrounding the Sino-American tension, US stimulus can offer immediate direction.

NZD/USD seesaws around 0.6650 so far during the early Asian trading on Friday. The pair recently ignored weaker than the previous reading of New Zealand ANZ-Roy Morgan Consumer Confidence while keep following the US dollar weakness as the main catalysts. Alike other major currencies, the New Zealand dollar (NZD) also surged to near one week high the previous day but has been capped near the top off-late as traders are waiting for the US employment data for September. Also acting as a trading barrier is the one-week long Chinese holiday and a lack of major data.

Stimulus deadlock joins political uncertainty to drag the USD…

Not only, the US policymakers’ inability to break the coronavirus (COVID-19) aid package talks impasse but increasing odds of the government change and US President Donald Trump’s signals of a delay in the election results also weigh on the US currency. Also playing as a negative catalyst for the greenback could be the disappointing print of the US ISM Manufacturing PMI that dropped to 55.4 versus 56.0 prior and 56.3 forecasts in September.

It should also be noted that Politico’s hint towards the escalation in the US-China tussle, Brexit woes and the global COVID-19 conditions add to the market’s imbalance. At home, ANZ-Roy Morgan Consumer Confidence for September dropped from 100.2 prior to 100.00.

While portraying the mixed risk sentiment, S&P 500 Futures struggles to extend the two-day winning streak above 3,350.

Moving on, NZD/USD traders should look for risk catalysts, amid expectedly dull markets, ahead of the key US employment numbers for September for fresh impetus.

Read: Nonfarm Payrolls Preview: Eagerly waiting for an upbeat report

Technical analysis

Unless declining below the 50-day EMA level of 0.6614, NZD/USD sellers are less likely to return. As a result, the quote stays directed towards the previous month’s high near 0.6800 with the 0.6700 acting as a nearby upside barrier.