New Zealand dollar continues to hold above US$0.60
Written by
Daily Currency Update
The New Zealand dollar remains relatively unchanged this morning when valued against the Greenback currently trading at 0.6032 at time of writing. The NZD/USD pair trades with a positive bias for the second straight day on Friday, albeit lacks bullish conviction and remains close to over a one-month low touched earlier this week. Along with a generally positive tone around the equity markets, offers some support to the risk-sensitive Kiwi, though concerns about a slowdown in China act as a headwind. Official data released earlier today showed that China's economy expanded 4.6% year-on-year in the July-September period, slightly slower than the 4.7% growth recorded in the previous quarter. This marked the lowest reading in 18 months and was below the government's full-year target of 5%, offsetting the better-than-expected Retail Sales and Industrial Production figures for the month of September. Looking ahead to this week in New Zealand and today the Reserve Bank of New Zealand will release the latest Credit Card Spending figures. On Tuesday Statistics New Zealand will release the latest Trade Balance data for the month. Finally on Thursday RBNZ Governor Adrian Orr is due to speak about monetary policy at the Peterson Institute, in Washington DC.Key Movers
US housing and construction figures came in moderately mixed on Friday, further entrenching investors in a buying mood and further crushing any fears of an economic slowdown right around the corner. The US “soft landing” scenario appears to have been fully averted with growth and activity metrics easily beating expectations. Gold prices continued to print record highs after breaching the $2,700 figure amid uncertainty surrounding the US election and tensions in the Middle East. This weighed on US Treasury bond yields and the Greenback, which tumbled to a two-day low of 103.45 after hitting a two-month peak of 103.87. At the time of writing, the XAU/USD trades at $2,721, up by 1.09%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJI), rose 36.86 points, or 0.09%, to 43,275.91; the S&P 500 (SPX), rose 23.20 points, or 0.40%, to 5,864.67; and the Nasdaq Composite (IXIC), rose 115.94 points, or 0.63%, to 18,489.55. European stocks closed higher, helped by a resurgence in tech stocks at the conclusion of a choppy week, which included mixed earnings and a rate cut from the European Central Bank. The STOXX 600 logged its second weekly advance. The dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of currencies including the yen and the euro, fell 0.28% to 103.49, with the euro up 0.3% at $1.0864.Expected Ranges
- NZD/USD: 0.6000 - 0.6200 ▼
- NZD/EUR: 0.5500 - 0.5700 ▼
- GBP/NZD: 2.1400 - 2.1600 ▲
- NZD/AUD: 1.0950 - 1.1150 ▲
- NZD/CAD: 0.8300 - 0.8500 ▼