The NZDUSD opens at 0.7328 (mid-rate) this morning.
Mounting geopolitical tensions between the US and North Korea has seen investors move away from riskier assets such as equities to safe havens like gold. Gold futures which are currently up 1.6% posting their largest one day gain since May.
On the currency front safe-haven demand continues to support both the Swiss franc and the Japanese Yen, with the yen the strongest performer of the G10 currencies over the past 24hrs.
This morning sees an end to the economic data drought with the release of the Reserve bank monetary policy statement. In Governor Wheeler’s final statement, investors are expecting very little, if at all any change in the Banks current policy, with Gov Wheeler again expected to confirm monetary policy will remain “accommodative for a considerable period”
Overnight the Energy Information Administration (EIA) reported US oil inventories fell by 6.5m barrels to 1.15b barrels. The fall was far greater than the forecast 2.6m barrel decrease.
Global equity markets are a sea of red - Dow -0.34%, S&P 500 -0.33%, FTSE -0.59%, DAX -1.12%, CAC -1.40%, Nikkei -1.29%, Shanghai -0.19%.
Gold prices are up 1.6% trading at $1,275 an ounce .WTI Crude Oil prices have edged higher, up 0.4% trading at $49.38 a barrel.
Current indicative rates:
NZDUSD 0.7328 0.0%
NZDEUR 0.6235 0.0%
NZDGBP 0.5636 -0.1%
NZDJPY 80.56 -0.4%
NZDAUD 0.9295 0.4%
NZDCAD 0.9311 0.4%
GBPNZD 1.7743 0.1%
Upcoming Data releases (NZST):
- 09:00 - RBNZ Rate Statement
- 10:00 - RBNZ Press Conference
- 13:10 - RBNZ Gov Wheeler Speaks
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Dan Bell is the senior currency strategist at HiFX in Auckland. You can contact him here »
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