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The Opening Bell: Where currencies start on Friday, March 18, 2016

Currencies
The Opening Bell: Where currencies start on Friday, March 18, 2016

By Dan Bell

The NZDUSD opens at 0.6855 (mid-rate) this morning.

The kiwi starts the day 2.5% higher from this time yesterday after the Fed left rates unchanged and gave a dovish commentary and the NZ GDP was better than market expectation of 0.7% printing at 0.9% increase q/q.

Australian Unemployment rate dropped from 6.0% to 5.8% in February because a large number of people gave up looking for work. The Bureau of Statistics estimated that only 300 jobs were added in February, 11.6k were forecasted, but unemployment still fell because the participation rate dropped.

US Philadelphia Fed Manufacturing Business Outlook Survey reported an improvement in business conditions this month. The indicator for general activity rose sharply to 12.4 in March to its first positive reading in seven months. February was -2.8.

US Unemployment claims were 265k which was near expectation. The U.S. Current Account deficit decreased to 125.3 billion (prelim.) in Q4 from 129.9 billion (revised) in Q3.

The Bank of England (BoE) voted unanimously to maintain it Bank rate at 0.5%, and maintain the stock of purchased assets, a form of Quantitative Easing, financed by the issuance of central bank reserves at GBP 375 billion.

Euro Area Annual Inflation figure was on expectation at -0.2% in February 2016 .Euro Area international trade in goods showed a surplus of EUR 6.2 Billion.

Swiss National Bank (SNB) left their interest rates on sight deposits unchanged at -0.75%.

Global equity markets are mixed:  Dow 1.11%, S&P 500 0.91%, FTSE +0.42%, DAX -0.91%, CAC -0.45%, Nikkei -0.22%, Shanghai +1.20%.

Gold prices are up 2.8% at $1263.85 an ounce, WTI Crude Oil rallied strong up 5.7% at $39.99 a barrel.

Current indicative rates:

NZDUSD       0.6855      2.5%
NZDEUR       0.6056      1.3%
NZDGBP       0.4733      0.7%
NZDJPY         76.37       1.2%
NZDAUD       0.8955      0.7%
NZDCAD       0.8909      1.1%

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

Daily exchange rates

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Source: CoinDesk

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