The NZDUSD opens at 0.7434 (mid-rate) this morning.
The NZD has slipped a little lower against the majority of its trading partners in what has been a quiet start to the week. Overnight a lack of tier one economic data has seen investors take a breather while they await Thursday’s FOMC monetary policy statement.
US existing home sales fell more than expected during the month of June. The National Association of Realtors report showed sales were down by 1.8% to an annual rate of 5.52M in June from 5.62M in May. Economists had forecast a 1% fall due in part to a lack of supply.
Euro-zone private sector growth slowed for the second consecutive month in July with the composite output index falling to a six month low of 55.8 down from 56.3 in June and below the forecast 56.2 reading. It is worth noting that a reading above 50.0 signals growth.
The International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) expectations for global growth remains unchanged, with last night’s report confirming the IMF see global output for 2017 at 3.5% increasing to 3.6% in 2018. Although the overall rate of global growth remains unchanged there were subtle changes to the makeup, with downward revisions for the UK and the US, while China, japan and the Euro-zone’s forecasts have had slight upward revisions.
Global equity markets have had a mixed start to the week - Dow -0.19%, S&P 500 -0.07%, FTSE -1.01%, DAX -0.25%, CAC +0.20%, Nikkei -0.62%, Shanghai +0.39%.
Gold prices are unchanged trading at $1,254 an ounce. WTI Crude Oil prices have pushed higher, up 1.2% at $46.34 a barrel.
Current indicative rates:
NZDUSD 0.7434 -0.2%
NZDEUR 0.6383 -0.1%
NZDGBP 0.5702 -0.6%
NZDJPY 82.58 -0.3%
NZDAUD 0.9378 -0.4%
NZDCAD 0.9291 -0.6%
GBPNZD 1.7537 0.6%
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Dan Bell is the senior currency strategist at HiFX in Auckland. You can contact him here »
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