NZD/USD flirting with multi-week lows near 0.7225 level

Following a slump to three-week lows, the NZD/USD pair now seems to have entered a bearish consolidation phase near session lows around the 0.7225 region. 

Against the backdrop of today's disappointing electronic card retail sales data, news headlines that an earthquake of magnitude 6.8 struck south of New Zealand's South Island further soured sentiment surrounding the New-Zealand Dollar. 

   •  USGS: Earthquake of 6.8 magnitude strikes off New Zealand - RTRS

This coupled with a follow through up-tick in the US Treasury bond yields, which underpinned the US Dollar demand further collaborated towards keeping a lid on any meaningful recovery for the higher-yielding currency - Kiwi. 

From a technical perspective, lack of any buying interest at lower levels clearly seems to suggest that the pair could be poised to extend its near-term corrective slide from near 5-month highs touched late June/early July. Hence, a follow through weakness below the 0.7200 handle now seems a distinct possibility.

Later during the day, second-tier US economic releases - JOLTS Job Openings and Final Wholesale Inventories, would influence the greenback and provide some trading impetus ahead of a scheduled speech by the Federal Reserve Governor Lael Brainard.

Technical levels to watch

Immediate support is pegged near 0.7215-10 region, below which the pair is likely to accelerate the slide even below the 0.7200 handle towards 0.7170 level (June 12 low). On the upside, any recovery attempts might now confront resistance near mid-0.7200s, which is closely followed by a strong hurdle near 0.7270 region ahead of the 0.7300 handle.