NZD/USD falls 0.54% for the day despite hitting high of 0.6925

Daily Currency Update

Financial markets continue to be tumultuous in response to the war in Ukraine with the New Zealand Dollar being no exception. The Kiwi initially appreciated rapidly to hit a near four-month high of 0.6925 before being heavily sold off to close, down 0.54% for the day. Opening this morning at 0.6823, the Kiwi continues to trade with commodity prices front of mind.

Extreme moves in commodity markets continue to drive direction for the Kiwi with Oil in particular, providing the impetus. Talk of Europe joining the US on a Russian Oil embargo further squeezed already very tight Oil prices even higher during the Asian session but ultimately unwound as news of a divided EU came to light. The EU is much more reliant on Russian Oil than the US by some 4m barrels to 700,000, so it comes as no surprise that some EU members, including Germany, were against a Russian Oil Embargo. Nevertheless, EU leaders will meet later this week to discuss phasing out Russian Oil. Other commodities seemed to take their cues from Oil with Palladium, Copper, Aluminum, Nickel, Wheat and others surging higher before falling later in the session.

Moving into Tuesday, there is again very little on the economic calendar to drive direction. All eyes continue to look to Ukraine.