NZD/USD retreats from weekly highs below 0.7050 as USD strengthen

• NZD/USD grinds lower on Friday in the early Asian session.
• US Dollar Index pares initial losses to trade near 94.00 with 0.07% gains.
• Kiwi under pressure on biggest rise in COVID-19 cases despite upbeat PMI.

NZD/USD surrenders the previous session’s gains on Friday’s Asian session. The pair jumped more than 80-pips in the US session following the USD broad-based sell-off. At the time of writing, NZD/USD is trading at 0.7032, down 0.5% for the day,

The US Dollar Index (DXY), which measures the greenback performance against its six major rivals, trades at 94.05. Wall Street surges more than 1.5% on strong earnings denting the prospects of the US dollar. The greenback losses despite upbeat economic data. The US Initial Jobless Claims drops below 300K, for the first time since the pandemic begins.

On the other hand, Kiwi pares part of its gains as there are 65 fresh coronavirus infections reported in Auckland, the biggest single-day rise in six weeks. NZD fails to capitalize on the upbeat manufacturing sector activity. The New Zealand Business Purchasing Managers Index (PMI) rebounds in September at 51.4, from a downwardly revised 39.7 in the previous month.

As for now, all eyes are on the US Retails sales data to take fresh trading impetus.

NZD/USD additional levels