Investing.com - The New Zealand dollar edged higher against its U.S. counterpart on Tuesday, but gains were limited by disappointing Chinese trade balance data and as expectations for a U.S. rate hike this month continued to support the greenback.
NZD/USD hit 0.6652 during late Asian trade, the session high; the pair subsequently consolidated at 0.6650, adding 0.12%.
The pair was likely to find support at 0.6604, the low of December 3 and resistance at 0.6750, Monday's high.
Official data earlier showed that China's trade surplus narrowed to $54.10 billion last month from $61.64 billion in October. Analysts had expected the trade surplus to widen to $63.30 billion in November.
Chinese exports dropped by an annualized rate of 6.8% last month, compared to expectations for a 5.0% decline, while imports decreased by 8.7%.
China is New Zealand's second biggest export partner.
Meanwhile, the greenback remained broadly supported after Friday's strong U.S. employment data fuelled further expectations that the Federal Reserve will hike interest rates for the first time since 2006 at its upcoming meeting on December 15-16.
The kiwi was higher against the New Zealand dollar, with AUD/NZD declining 0.54% to 1.0880.
Earlier Tuesday, the National Australia Bank reported that its business confidence index rose to 5 in November from a reading of 2 the previous month.