NZD/USD recovers modestly, stays in red around 0.6970

• NZD/USD dropped to a daily low of 0.6949 on Monday.
• USD gathers strength against its rivals at the start of the week.
• Eyes on 10-year US Treasury note auction at 1700 GMT.

The NZD/USD pair staged a rebound and rose toward 0.7000 on Friday but failed to preserve its bullish momentum at the start of the week. After dropping to a daily low of 0.6949, the pair edged slightly higher and was last seen losing 0.45% on a daily basis at 0.6965.

Earlier in the day, the data from New Zealand showed that Electronic Card Retail Sales increased by 0.9% in June after rising by 1.7% in May. Market participants paid little to no attention to this report and the risk-averse market environment made it difficult for the kiwi to find demand.

USD capitalizes on risk-off flows

On the other hand, the US Dollar Index is rising 0.25% on the day at 92.32, not allowing NZD/USD to erase its losses. There won't be any high-tier macroeconomic data releases from the US in the remainder of the day and investors will pay close attention to the 10-year US Treasury note auction, that is scheduled to take place at 1700 GMT.

Meanwhile, Wall Street's main indexes look to open mixed on Monday with Nasdaq Futures rising 0.4% and Dow Futures losing 0.25% ahead of the opening bell. 

In the early trading hours of the Asian session on Wednesday, the Reserve Bank of New Zealand (RBNZ) will publish its policy statement alongside the interest rate decision. Investors expect the RBNZ to leave its policy rate unchanged at 0.25% but the latest upbeat data from New Zealand and inflation concerns could force the bank to signal a tightening move toward the end of the year. 

NZD/USD set to skyrocket towards 0.75 by end-2021 as RBNZ tapering is coming – ING.

Technical levels to watch for