Kiwi flat despite broad USD weakness

Daily Currency Update

The New Zealand dollar opens this morning at 0.6793 to record a relatively flat Friday with only a -0.01% change.

It was a mostly uneventful day for the Kiwi during the Asian and European trading sessions with little to drive momentum. That all changed however when the Americans opened for business. The headline US CPI figure for November surprised the upside on Friday with a reading of 0.8% against the expected 0.7%. Furthermore, the yearly rate accelerated from 6.2% in October to 6.9%, its highest level since 1982. Core inflation matched expectations but nevertheless rose 4.9% from a year ago. Altogether, the data reaffirmed the market expectation of a Fed rate hike sooner rather than later and saw the greenback weaken slightly as traders took profit in a typical ‘buy the rumour, sell the news trade. The Kiwi saw a decent lift from the US dollar pullback to push past 0.68 before falling at the close back to 0.6790.

Moving into Monday, the Kiwi again enjoys a quiet start to the week with COVID-19 news set to dominate proceedings.