The NZDUSD opens at 0.6620 (mid-rate) this morning.
The NZD has outperformed all its major trading partners overnight.
With no major local data releases today the market is likely to enter a wait and see approach leading into the U.S Non-farm Employment numbers released in the early hours of tomorrow morning.
The USD managed to reach a 3 month high on Thursday against a basket of currencies in the wake of Yellens bullish comments. The market is now pricing in over a 50% chance of the Fed hiking rates in December.
Elsewhere the GBP was the big loser as the Bank of England gave clear signals that interest rates were firmly on hold and likely to stay so for an extended period of time citing inflation still at near zero levels.
Global equity markets are mixed - Dow -0.03%, S&P 500 -0.05%, FTSE +0.46%, DAX +0.39%, CAC +0.64%, Nikkei +1.00% Shanghai +1.83%.
Gold prices continue to slide down 0.04% to $1105 an ounce, WTI Crude Oil has also slid back 1.06% to $45.88 a barrel.
Indicative mid-rate pricing:
NZDUSD 0.6620 0.8%
NZDEUR 0.6085 0.5%
NZDGBP 0.4350 1.7%
NZDJPY 80.60 0.7%
NZDAUD 0.9270 0.7%
NZDCAD 0.8715 0.5%
Upcoming Data releases (NZST):
No local data 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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