By Kymberly Martin
Trading in most currencies overnight was fairly pedestrian by recent standards. The NZD/USD was unable to hold onto yesterday afternoon’s gain, currently trading at 0.6550.
An overnight rally in the global oil price was abruptly curtailed after the release of a US EIA report showing crude inventories rose. WTI futures dropped 5.0% before stabilising just above USD30/barrel.
However, the NOK managed to hold onto much of its gain for the night, taking out the title of top performer. It has gained almost 1% against the USD since last evening. The USD/NOK trades at 8.8160 this morning.
Otherwise currency moves were relatively contained, as data was thin on the ground. Comments by Fed speaker Rosengren, captured some attention, but did not seem to catch the market off guard. The USD index trades at a similar level to yesterday morning, around 99.00.
The AUD gained a bit of a boost yesterday afternoon, following the release of China trade data. The details were stronger than expected, with stronger exports and less weak imports than anticipated. The AUD/USD consequently traded briefly toward 0.7050. Overnight it has drifted lower to trade around 0.6980 at present.
The focus for the AUD today will be the release of the AU employment report. This remains a bit of a lottery, due to statistical sampling issues. Still, our NAB colleagues, along with consensus, look for a decline in employment in December, with the unemployment rate seen ticking up to 5.9%.
The NZD/USD also enjoyed a brief spike higher after the China trade data release. But its lurch toward 0.6590 was short-lived. Overnight it has traded back down to 0.6550.
Near-term support continues to be eyed at the mid-Nov lows of 0.6430. With no key NZ data releases today (retail card spending is due) the NZD will likely take its cue from any AUD response to the AU employment report, or from developments in Chinese financial markets.
Tonight the focus will be on Europe. The Bank of England is due to meet and the ECB will release the Minutes of its most recent meeting.
Get our daily currency email by signing up here:
Daily exchange rates
Select chart tabs
Kymberly Martin is on the BNZ Research team. All its research is available here.
We welcome your comments below. If you are not already registered, please register to comment.
Remember we welcome robust, respectful and insightful debate. We don't welcome abusive or defamatory comments and will de-register those repeatedly making such comments. Our current comment policy is here.