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The Opening Bell: Where currencies start for Thursday, April 3, 2014

Currencies
The Opening Bell: Where currencies start for Thursday, April 3, 2014

By Dan Bell

The NZDUSD opens markedly lower at 0.8555 this morning.

The NZD was sold across the board overnight after Wednesday's sharp fall in global diary prices.

The NZDUSD broke through technical support at 0.8640 and fell to a 1-week low of 0.8550.

The NZDAUD plunged a 5-week low of 0.9250, despite worse than expected Australia Building Approvals.

The USD was little changed against a basket of currencies overnight, as investors remain nervous ahead of Friday night's important US non-farm payroll employment figures. Good numbers will reinforce the view the US Fed will continue to wind down its massive stimulus program - the USD is likely to strengthen in such circumstances.

There is no data on the domestic calendar today.

Australian retail sales and trade balance will be released at 1:30 pm, followed by an European Central Bank interest rate setting meeting tonight - no change expected.

Global equity markets were higher on the day - Dow +0.1%, Nikkei +1.0%, Shanghai +0.8%, FTSE +0.1%, DAX +0.2%

Gold prices increased 0.8% to USD$1289. Oil prices dropped 0.8%.

The current indicative mid-rates are:

NZDUSD           0.8555
NZDEUR           0.6215
NZDGBP           0.5145
NZDJPY              88.85
NZDAUD          0.9260
NZDCAD          0.9435

There is no data out on the domestic calendar today.

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

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Source: CoinDesk

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