The NZDUSD opens at 0.8750 this morning.
The NZD was confined to relatively tightened ranges as the US 4th of July holiday resulted in a lack of interest and participation by many market players.
Recent data backs expectations that the US economy has recovered from the weather related slowdown in Q1. However, many investors still feel the US Federal Reserve has no appetite for hiking interest rates in the near term which is weighing on the USD.
The EUR continues to perform due to inflows of cash into the European bond and stock markets and also due to buying by Asia Central Banks.
The Bank of England appears on track to raise interest rates at the end of 2014 or early 2015. This is supporting the GBP near 6-year highs.
It is a very light week on the domestic data calendar with tomorrow?s NZIER Business Confidence numbers being the most significant.
Global equity markets were mostly higher on the day - Dow +0.5%, Nikkei +0.6%, Shanghai -0.1%, FTSE +0.0%, DAX -0.2%
Gold prices fell 0.6% to USD$1319. Oil prices dropped 0.3%.
The current indicative mid-rates are:
NZDUSD 0.8750
NZDEUR 0.6435
NZDGBP 0.5095
NZDJPY 89.30
NZDAUD 0.9340
NZDCAD 0.9315
There is no data scheduled 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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