The NZDUSD opens at 0.7052 (mid-rate) this morning.
It has been a solid start to the week for the NZD with the dollar continuing to push higher against all its major rivals.
With very little in the way of scheduled economic data releases to drive direction the big news overnight came out of the UK when the British Prime Minister Theresa May announced that Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty will be invoked on the 29th March. The triggering of Article 50 means that the UK will leave the European Union by the end of March 2019 with or without a trade deal in place. The GBP traded to session lows immediately after the announcement.
Today the release of our monthly visitor arrivals and credit card spending reports should have little effect on the currency, with further direction for the NZDAUD cross rate likely to be dictated by this afternoons RBA monetary policy meeting minutes due out at 13:30.
Overnight tonight the latest GDT auction is expected to continue its recent fall with the futures market pricing in another 4% dip in whole milk powder prices.
Global equity markets remain mixed- Dow +0.12%%, S&P -0.1%, FTSE +0.07%, DAX -0.35%, CAC -0.34%, Nikkei Closed, Shanghai +0.41%.
Gold prices are up slightly currently trading at $1,233 an ounce, WTI Crude Oil is down 0.8% currently trading at $48.41 a barrel.
Current indicative rates:
NZDUSD 0.7052 0.5%
NZDEUR 0.6566 0.5%
NZDGBP 0.5711 0.8%
NZDJPY 79.37 0.4%
NZDAUD 0.9121 0.1%
NZDCAD 0.9421 0.6%
Upcoming Data releases (NZST):
- 10:45 - Visitor Arrivals m/m
- 13:30 - RBA Monetary Policy Meeting Minutes
- 15:00 - Credit Card Spending y/y
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Dan Bell is the senior currency strategist at HiFX in Auckland. You can contact him here »
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