NZD/USD Price Analysis: Remains sidelined around 200-SMA after China PMI

• NZD/USD paid a little heed to China’s official PMI data for December.
• China’s NBS Manufacturing PMI came in upbeat but Non-Manufacturing PMI missed expectations.
• Sustained break of 100-SMA, previous resistance from November 15 keeps buyers hopeful.
• Bulls need to over 0.6860 to excel further, 0.6735 acts as extra support to watch.

NZD/USD takes rounds to 0.6830 during Friday’s Asian session. In doing so, the kiwi pair fails to cheer upbeat PMI data from China amid technical challenges and year-end liquidity crunch.

China’s NBS Manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) grew past the 50.1 forecast and prior release to 50.3 in December. The Non-Manufacturing PMI rose to 52.7 versus 52.3 previous readouts but eased below 53.1 market consensus.

NZD/USD struggles to overcome a three-month-old horizontal hurdle surrounding 0.6860 even as the bullish MACD signals, sustained break of the previous resistance line from mid-November and a clear run-up beyond 100-SMA favors the pair bulls.

It’s worth noting that the 0.6900 round figure, also comprising the late November’s swing high, acts as a validation point for a north-run towards the 0.7000 psychological magnet that also encompasses early November’s swing lows.

Alternatively, the resistance-turned-support line and the 100-SMA, around 0.6805 and 0.6780 in that order, restricts short-term downside of the kiwi pair.

Should the quote drops below 0.6780, a horizontal line from December 06, close to 0.6730 will stop the NZD/USD bears before directing them to 2021 bottom of 0.6701.

To sum up, NZD/USD trades near the key make or break point with buyers having an upper hand.

NZD/USD: Four-hour chart

Trend: Sideways