The NZDUSD opens at 0.6482 (mid-rate) this morning.
The NZD lost ground against all its major trading partners with the NZD reaching a low of 0.6418 almost 100 points from yesterday’s open.
The Reserve Bank of NZ Cash Rate target is unchanged at 2.50% and Fonterra cut the 2015/16 farmgate milk forecast to NZD$4.15 kgms (from $4.60). They mentioned challenging economic conditions, the imbalance between supply & demand, and prices are unsustainably low globally.
The AUD has continued to push higher overnight reaching a 0.7129 high.
The US Federal Reserve Open Market Committee (FOMC) left its target interest rate unchanged at 0.25-0.50% range. The Fed says it is closely watching the global economic and financial developments to assess the balance of risks to the U.S. Economic outlook.
US Orders for durable, or long-lasting, goods fell 5.1% in December. The drop came after a 12.4% plunge in transportation orders and was worse than the 1.5% forecasted decline in the headline. Excluding transportation, orders fell 1.2% in December. So-called core capital-goods orders fell 4.3%.
In the week ending January 23, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted US Unemployment initial claims was 278,000, a decrease of 16,000 from the previous week's revised level. This was in line with market expectation. The previous week's level was revised up by 1,000 from 293,000 to 294,000.
Global equity markets are broadly lower with US market higher - Dow +0.18%, S&P 500 +0.34%, FTSE -0.98%, DAX -2.44%, CAC -1.33%, Nikkei -0.71%, Shanghai -2.92%.
Gold prices are steady trading at $1116 an ounce, WTI Crude Oil is currently up 3.4% at $33.28 a barrel .
Current indicative rates:
NZDUSD 0.6482 -0.5%
NZDEUR 0.5922 -1.2%
NZDGBP 0.4511 -1.3%
NZDJPY 76.97 -0.6%
NZDAUD 0.9139 -1.0%
NZDCAD 0.9099 -0.6%
Upcoming data releases (NZST)
- 10:45 - Building consents m/m
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Dan Bell is the senior currency strategist at HiFX in Auckland. You can contact him here »
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