• NZD/USD consolidated 0.5870 after Thursday's suspected Japanese foreign exchange intervention triggered sharp moves across currency markets and kept traders cautious.
• China's official NBS manufacturing PMI slipped to 49.2 in July, missing the Reuters consensus forecast of 50.0 and signaling renewed contraction in factory activity, adding to concerns over the country's economic momentum.
• Markets have nearly fully priced in a 25-basis-point RBNZ rate hike to 2.75% in September, with the cash rate expected to rise to 3.0% by December and 3.5% by mid-2027.
• Investors now turn their attention to the U.S. second-quarter Employment Cost Index, due later on Friday. Economists expect a 0.8% quarterly increase, with the data likely to influence expectations for future Federal Reserve policy.
• Immediate resistance is located at 0.5897(50%fib), any close above will push the pair towards 0.5924(Higher BB).
• Support is seen at 0.5823(61.8%fib)and break below could take the pair towards 0.5792(SMA 20).
Recommendation: Good to sell around 0.5880 with stop loss of 0.5960 and target price of 0.5800
