By Dan Bell
Improved sentiment has seen the NZD/USD trade back over 0.8300 to make a high of 0.8343 on Friday night.
Global markets had a positive night on Friday with European equity markets up 3-4% after Italy, Spain, France and Belgium banned short selling of financial stocks.
The positive tone flowed through to the US where the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed up 1.13% on the day.
US Retail Sales came in better than expected (+0.5% for July) but a US Consumer Sentiment Survey (University of Michigan) recorded its worst reading in more than 30 years.
Commodity prices were mildly weaker with oil prices down 0.4% and gold off 0.51% to close at 1,742.
The NZD opens around 0.8030 AUD, 0.5100 GBP, 0.5830 EUR, 63.90 JPY.
Not too much to report on the local front this week. Tomorrow we get NZ Q2 PPI data and Migration numbers on Friday.
From Australia the RBA Minutes on Tuesday will be of interest considering the recent turn around in market expectations for rate cuts this year. The market is now pricing in more than 100 basis points of rate cuts from the RBA before the end of the year when it was pricing in rate hikes a few months ago!
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Dan Bell is the senior currency strategist at HiFX in Auckland. You can contact him here
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