The NZDUSD opens at 0.7205 (mid-rate) this morning.
All eyes will be on this morning’s RBNZ Statement hitting the tapes at 9:00am.
The USD lost ground against all its major competitors following Bank of Japan Governor Kuroda’s comments yesterday evening. During his speech Kuroda said that “Japan’s real effective exchange rate is “very weak”, so further declines in the yen don’t seem likely.”
Yesterday RBA Gov Stevens, during an address to the Economic Society of Australia left the door open for further rate cuts if required. The RBA has reduced its OCR rate twice this year by a quarter basis point each to support economic growth, and Gov Stevens went on to state "The Reserve Bank will remain attuned to what it can do, consistent with the various elements of its mandate - including price stability, full employment and financial stability,"
The U.K. data releases were mixed with manufacturing production m/m printing below market expectations of 0.1% at -0.4%, while industrial production grew 0.4% month-on-month in April, better than the expected growth of 0.1% but weaker than March's 0.6 percent increase.
European and U.S. equity markets are sharply higher - Dow +1.45%, Nikkei -0.25%, Shanghai -0.15%,FTSE +1.13%, DAX +2.40%, CAC +1.75%
Gold prices are up $9 trading at $1186 an ounce, Oil (WTI) is up 1.85% at $61.25 a barrel.
The current indicative mid-rates are:
NZDUSD 0.7205
NZDEUR 0.6365
NZDGBP 0.4635
NZDJPY 88.35
NZDAUD 0.9280
NZDCAD 0.8835
Domestic data releases today
09:00am - RBNZ Rate Statement
09:05am - RBNZ Press Conference
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Dan Bell is the senior currency strategist at HiFX in Auckland. You can contact him here »
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