By Dan Bell
The NZD/USD opens a little higher at 0.8070 this morning after an uneventful night.
Prices in Fonterra’s latest online auction jumped 7.8%, but caused little reaction in the NZD.
Overnight data from the US was generally positive, particularly industrial production & homes building sentiment, which cut expectations of more monetary easing from the US Federal Reserve.
The EUR/USD dropped as a result, but the NZD/USD did not follow suits but instead tracked the AUD/USD higher.
China’s Premier Wen Jiabao cautioned overnight that its economy faced significant headwinds, which has raised expectations that Beijing will launch a spending program to stem waning growth.
Global equity markets were again little moved overnight. The main US indices near flat on the day, although the European & UK bourse were weaker by circa 0.5%.
The 19-commodity CRB Commodity Index was rose 0.45%. Oil prices jumped over 2%, while Gold rebounded 0.2% to USD$1603 per ounce. Copper prices were unsettled on concerns of China’s slowing industrial demand dropped 0.4% to USD$7385 a tonne, and were other base metals fell between 0.9% to 1.7%.
The NZD opens at 0.8070 USD, 0.7680 AUD, 0.6565 EUR, 0.5145 GBP, & 63.60 JPY.
NZ Business Confidence is released at 10.30am today. While from Australia we get Inflation Expectations and some RBA-speak from Assist Governor Debelle.
Tonight brings euro-zone inflation data, Philly Fed Manufacturing Index, weekly Unemployment Claims, Housing Starts, & Building Permits.
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Dan Bell is the senior currency strategist at HiFX in Auckland. You can contact him here
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