By Dan Bell

The NZD/USD opens around 0.8314 this morning after another positive night for the bird we thought couldn’t fly.

The NZD has been the strongest currency overnight following the RBNZ’s more hawkish comments yesterday morning.

The NZD is up against all major currencies and is trading over 74.00 on a Trade Weighted Basis. The post float high for the NZD TWI was a shade over 77.00 in 2007 which led to currency intervention by the Reserve Bank.

The NZD opens at current indicative mid rates against the major crosses: 0.7936 AUD, 0.6415 EUR, 68.49 JPY, 0.5181 GBP, 0.8243 CAD.

The European Central Bank made no changes to monetary policy last night but downgraded their assessment and forecasts for the Euro region. Next year is forecast to be another recession.

Global equity markets have had a relatively quiet night. The S&P 500 is currently up 0.15%. Commodities are mostly weaker overnight led by oil prices down 1.91%.

The EUR/USD has fallen over 1 cent overnight while the AUD/USD is holding onto recent gains under 1.05.

Not much to report on the local front. From Australia we get Trade Balance numbers at 1:30pm. The focus tonight will be US Employment numbers where unemployment is expected to come in at 7.9% and jobs growth for Nov at +93K.

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Dan Bell is the senior currency strategist at HiFX in Auckland. You can contact him here