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The Opening Bell: Where currencies start on Friday, August 11, 2017

Currencies
The Opening Bell: Where currencies start on Friday, August 11, 2017

By Dan Bell

The NZDUSD opens at 0.7285 (mid-rate) this morning.

The Kiwi is lower again overnight as tension mount over North Korea. The Japanese Yen and gold are the biggest benefactors from safe haven flows.

The NZD has traded 169 point range this week or 2.2% and opens just 0.5% from the lows.

In the week ending August 5, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted U.S. Initial Claims was 244,000, an increase of 3,000 from the previous week's revised level.

The U.S. Producer Price Index (PPI) for final demand declined 0.1% in July, seasonally adjusted, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported. Final demand prices inched up 0.1% in June and were unchanged in May.

In the 3 months to June 2017, the U.K. Index of Production was estimated to have decreased by 0.4% compared with the 3 months to March 2017, due mainly to a fall of 0.6% in manufacturing.

UK’s total trade deficit (goods and services) widened by £2.0 billion between May and June 2017 to £4.6 billion, due to increases in imports of both goods and services.

The U.S. government reported a smaller deficit for July compared to the previous year as a result of an increase in tax receipts and less spending on healthcare. The deficit of $43 billion last month compared to a deficit of $113 billion in the year-earlier period, the Treasury Department said in its monthly budget statement. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast the Treasury reporting a $73 billion deficit last month.

Global equity markets move lower again as Nth Korean tensions mount:  Dow -0.49%, S&P 500 -0.91%, FTSE -1.44 %, DAX -1.15%, CAC -0.59%, Nikkei -0.05%, Shanghai -0.42%.

Gold prices are up $10 or 0.8% trading at $1,285 an ounce .WTI Crude Oil prices have dropped 1.6% trading at $48.58 a barrel.

Current indicative rates:

NZDUSD       0.7285      -0.6%
NZDEUR       0.6189      -0.7%
NZDGBP       0.5612      -0.4%
NZDJPY         79.60       -1.2%
NZDAUD       0.9232      -0.7%
NZDCAD       0.9264      -0.5%
GBPNZD       1.7811       0.4%

Upcoming Data releases (NZST):

  • 10:30 - NZD -Business NZ Manufacturing Index
  • 10:45 - NZD - FPI 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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