NZD/USD stays in lower half of weekly range below 0.6450

• Business NZ PMI data from New Zealand disappoints.
• US Dollar Index rises for the fourth straight day on Friday.
• Housing Starts, Building Permits, and the UoM Consumer Confidence data from US coming up next.

The NZD/USD pair struggled to make a decisive recovery throughout the week and came under renewed selling pressure during the Asian session on Friday following the uninspiring Purchasing Managers Index (PMI) data from New Zealand. As of writing, the pair, which touched a daily low of 0.6426, was trading at 0.6435, losing 0.2% on a daily basis.

Manufacturing sector weakens in NZ

The data published by Business NZ came in at 48.2 in July to miss the market expectation of 51.8 and showed contraction in the business activity in the manufacturing sector.

Assessing the details of the report, "The employment measure fell by 4.6 points, the lowest levels since Aug 2016 and the new orders measure and the finished stocks measure fell by 3.5 points and 4.1 points respectively. Deliveries inched up 0.3%,” noted TD Securities analysts.

Meanwhile, the fact that the Greenback is preserving its recovery momentum this week makes it difficult for the pair to reverse its direction. Ahead of the University of Michigan's Consumer Confidence report and July Building Permits and Housing Starts data from the US, the US Dollar Index, which tracks the USD's value against a basket of six major currencies, is up 0.13% on the day and remains on track to post a weekly gain of more than 1%. 

Technical levels to watch for