NZD/USD retains near-term trading range, back above 0.70 mark

The NZD/USD pair regained traction on Wednesday and is now seen building on to its move back above 0.70 psychological mark.

Currently trading around 0.7015 region, the pair has now reversed previous session corrective slide from nearly 4-week highs amid stalling greenback buying interest. A mildly positive sentiment surrounding commodity space and retracing US treasury bond yields were seen collaborating to the pair's up-move on Wednesday. 

Looking at the broader picture, the pair has been confined within a near-term trading range and has repeated failed to clear 0.7050 strong hurdle, marking 50% Fibonacci retracement level of 0.7237-0.6862 downslide, but has been able to defend 23.6% Fibonacci retracement level support. Meanwhile, occurrence of a Death cross on daily chart, with 50-day SMA crossing below the very important 200-day SMA, is pointing to near-term bearish set-up. However, it would be prudent to wait for a decisive break-out of the current trading range before determining the pair's next leg of directional move.

Later during NY trading session, President-elect Donald Trump's first news conference is expected to trigger a fresh bout of volatility in the greenback and eventually might provide the required momentum that should assist the pair to break through recent trading range.

Technical levels to watch

From current levels, momentum above 0.7025 level might continue to confront resistance near 0.7050 region above which the pair seems all set to dart towards 0.7075 confluence resistance (50-day and 200-day SMAs). On the downside, sustained weakness below 0.6985 level is likely to drag the pair back towards 0.6950 support area, which if broken decisively would expose recent multi-month lows support near 0.6860 region, with 0.6900 handle acting  as intermediate support.