NZD/USD tumbles to fresh 2018 lows, slide farther below 0.70 mark

   •  USD builds on the recent upsurge and continues exerting downward pressure.
   •  Technical selling below 0.70 handle aggravates the selling pressure. 
   •  Now seems vulnerable to extend its near-term bearish trajectory.

The NZD/USD pair extended its retracement slide from an intraday high level of 0.7031 and tumbled to fresh YTD lows in the last hour.

Against the backdrop of rising speculations that the Fed might raise interest rates aggressively, the Fed Chair Jerome Powell's comments triggered a fresh wave of US Dollar buying and turned out to be one of the key factors behind the pair's sharp fall over the past couple of hours.

Adding to this, possibilities of some short-term trading stops being triggered, on a break back below the key 0.70 psychological mark, further aggravated the selling pressure and contributed to the pair's fall to its lowest level since December 20.

The pair has now retreated over 50-pips from session tops, with a follow-through selling, led by some fresh technical selling, despite near-term oversold conditions, still looks a distinct possibility.

Technical levels to watch

Immediate support is pegged near the 0.6965-60 region, below which the pair is likely to accelerate the slide towards the 0.6915-10 support area. On the upside, any meaningful recovery attempt back above the 0.70 handle might continue to confront fresh supply near the 0.7035-40 region, which if cleared might trigger a short-covering bounce back towards the 0.7090-0.7100 barrier.