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NZD/USD declines to 0.6200 in early Thursday trading, extending Wednesday's retreat from the weekly high. In doing so, the Kiwi/U.S. dollar pair justifies the generally stronger U.S. dollar as well as conflicting New Zealand data. (NZ).

Building Permits in New Zealand decreased by 9.0% in February, versus an expected 0.5% increase, compared to -5.2% in January. However, the Australia and New Zealand Banking Group's (ANZ) sentiment indices for March were stronger, but they displayed negative numbers and failed to attract NZD/USD purchasers. In spite of this, the ANZ Activity Outlook for March improved to -8.5% compared to -12.5% expected and -9.2% previously, while ANZ Business Confidence came in at -43.4 for the month compared to -43.4 previously.

In contrast, US Pending Home Sales increased 0.8% month-over-month in February, compared to -3.0% expected and 8.0% previously.

It should be noted that Fed Chair Jerome Powell's hint of a further rate hike, coupled with Fed Vice Chair for Supervision Michael Barr's emphasis on data dependence, has allowed the US Dollar to maintain its strength. In a similar vein could be Fed Chair Powell's proposal to modify deposit insurance.

Aside from this, optimism surrounding the technology and financial sectors provides a floor for the NZD/USD exchange rate, even as nuclear threats from Russia and North Korea join US-China tensions to drag on the risk profile amid a light Asian calendar.

In this context, S&P 500 Futures post modest losses around 4,050, retreating from a one-week high recorded the previous day, while disregarding Wall Street's positive performance. In contrast, the US 10-year and 2-year Treasury bond yields continue to rise after luring bond purchasers the day before.

The preliminary readings of the US fourth quarter (Q4) Core Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) and the final figures for the US fourth quarter (Q4) Gross Domestic Product will be crucial for market participants to monitor moving forward. However, the banking and inflation indicators should be given the most consideration.

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