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The Opening Bell: Where currencies start on Friday, November 20, 2015

Currencies
The Opening Bell: Where currencies start on Friday, November 20, 2015

By Dan Bell

The NZDUSD opens at 0.6562 (mid-rate) this morning.

Reflecting positive contributions from the yield spread, stock prices, and building permits, the Conference Board released a report on Thursday showing that its index of leading U.S. economic indicators rose by 0.6% in October, which was slightly more than expected.

 European Central Bank policymakers considered boosting the monetary stimulus in October as it was suggested that the deflation risk remained relevant despite the ongoing slow recovery in the euro area, the minutes of the policy session revealed overnight.

ECB President Mario Draghi had also revealed in October that policymakers also discussed interest rate cuts. The accounts suggested that policymakers are set to review all available tools in December that will help to achieve the ECB's price stability goal of bringing inflation 'below, but close to 2%’. 

China's central bank cut borrowing costs further on some loans in its latest effort to underpin the slowing economy that has switched focus to domestic consumption and services than exports.

The People's Bank of China lowered the overnight rate for loans made under the standard lending facility, or SLF, to banks to 2.75% from 4.50% and the seven-day rate to 3.25% from 5.5%.

UK Retail Sales were up 1.9% in September from August, better than the market consensus of -0.4%, and an estimated 6.5% increase from September 2014.

Global equity markets are broadly higher : Dow +0.18%, S&P 500 +0.12%, FTSE +0.81%, DAX +1.14%, CAC +0.17%, Nikkei +1.07%, Shanghai +1.36%.

Gold prices are up $10 at $1078 an ounce, WTI Crude Oil prices are up 0.45% currently trading at $40.30 a barrel. 

Current indicative rates:

NZDUSD       0.6562     1.1%
NZDEUR       0.6116     0.5%
NZDGBP       0.4290     0.7%
NZDJPY         80.56      0.5%
NZDAUD       0.9117     0.0%
NZDCAD       0.8720     1.0%

Upcoming Data releases (NZST):

  • 15:00- Credit Card Spending y/y

 

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Dan Bell is the senior currency strategist at HiFX in Auckland. You can contact him here »

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Source: CoinDesk

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2 Comments

Wow............ and wow again ........... I hope the RBNZ is huddled in a meeting right now looking at the likely outcomes or consequences of this event

They will need to be mindful of the consequences of cheap Chinese money washing up here , or arriving legally chasing the high yielding Kiwi $ , or more seriously chasing high yielding assets like NZ real estate .

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This is not a problem for the NZ Government - this is an opportunity: after all, NZ, it's land, farms, houses, companies, prisons, govt housing, water, education, etc is all up for sale. It's the easy way to keep the money coming in.

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