The NZDUSD gapped lower to 0.7735 this morning on Fonterra contamination concerns.
Fonterra announced over the weekend they had found bacteria which can cause botulism in some dairy products.
China and Russia have banned all goods made by Fonterra, and products are being recalled in NZ, China, and other nations.
Six of the eight affected companies have said their products are safe as any bacterium would be killed during processing. The NZD has been hit hard across the board in thin Monday morning markets.
In other news, the US non-farm payrolls numbers gave mixed signals which suggests the US Federal Reserve could be more cautious about tapering its economic stimulus.
Global equity markets were generally a little higher.
The Gold Price trades at USD$1311 an ounce. Oil fell over 0.6% while base metals prices were little changed
The NZD opens at 0.7735 USD, 0.8675 AUD, 0.5825 EUR, 0.5060GBP, & 76.60 JPY.
ANZ Commodity Prices data will be released at 1:00pm.
Australian Retail Sales figures hit the tapes at 1:30pm.
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Dan Bell is the senior currency strategist at HiFX in Auckland. You can contact him here »
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