By Dan Bell
The NZD/USD opens around 0.7900 after making a high of 0.8000 overnight.
The focus remains on the European summit this weekend. We have received no details of how the enhanced EU bailout fund is going to work and comments from policy makers and politicians appear confusing and contradictory at times. Sunday's (Oct. 23) summit of the 27 EU leaders will be their sixth attempt this year to ‘resolve’ the EU debt crisis. If markets are disappointed with the outcome of this meeting we could see another bout of risk aversion which would see the NZD under pressure.
The AUD/USD opens around 1.02 after trading to a high of 1.0350 overnight while EUR/USD opens at 1.3750.
The NZD is weaker against most major currencies and opens down 0.6% on a trade weighted basis at 69.33. Against the AUD we are trading around a 3 month low of 0.7740. Versus the EUR we open around 0.5750 and against GBP around 0.5010.
US stock markets are weaker this morning with the S&P 500 currently down 1.3%. The last hour of trading in New York has been extremely choppy over the last few weeks (NY close at 9am NZT) so where we finish this morning is anyone’s guess!
Commodities are also trading lower with the CRB Index off 1.3% led by oil prices down over 2%.
Nothing to report on the local front. From Australia we get NAB Quarterly Business Confidence at 1:30pm.
-------------
Dan Bell is the senior currency strategist at HiFX in Auckland. You can contact him here
We welcome your comments below. If you are not already registered, please register to comment.
Remember we welcome robust, respectful and insightful debate. We don't welcome abusive or defamatory comments and will de-register those repeatedly making such comments. Our current comment policy is here.