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The Opening Bell: Where currencies start on Friday, April 29, 2016

Currencies
The Opening Bell: Where currencies start on Friday, April 29, 2016

By Dan Bell

The NZDUSD opens at 0.6968 (mid-rate) this morning.

The NZD has gained against all its major trading partners with the exception of the JPY since yesterday’s open.

The RBNZ left rates unchanged at 9am yesterday, but the big mover over the past 24hrs has been the JPY. The USD/JPY is down 3.5% from almost 112.00 to 108.05.

The Bank of Japan will continue with "Quantitative and Qualitative Monetary Easing (QQE) with a Negative Interest Rate," aiming to achieve the price stability target of 2 percent, as long as it is necessary for maintaining that target in a stable manner.

The Japan YoY rate of change in the Consumer Price Index (CPI, all items less fresh food) is likely to be about 0% for the time being, before heading to -1% and remaining negative until the beginning of Q2 fiscal 2017, then turn to positive 2% (the price stability target) in Q3 and Q4 fiscal 2017.

The U.S. Economy expanded in Q1 2016 at the slowest pace in two years as American consumers reined in spending and companies tightened their belts in response to weak global financial conditions and a plunge in oil prices. The U.S. Advance GDP q/q came in at 0.5%, slightly worse than the 0.7% expected and worse than the 1.4% last quarter.

U.S. Jobless Claims hover around the lowest level in four decades, showing the labour market remains the strongest part of the U.S. economy. Initial applications for unemployment benefits climbed by 9,000 to 257,000 in the week that ended April 23. The prior week’s revised 248,000 claims were the fewest since 1973.

Global equity markets remain mixed: Dow -1.19%, S&P 500 -0.88%, FTSE +0.04%, DAX +0.21%, CAC -0.04%, Nikkei -3.61%, Shanghai -0.27%.

Gold prices are up $20 (1.6%) currently trading $1265 an ounce, WTI Crude Oil continues to climb up another 1.5% at $46 a barrel.

Current indicative rates:

NZDUSD       0.6968      1.9%
NZDEUR       0.6145      1.7%
NZDGBP       0.4776      1.5%
NZDJPY         75.40      -1.0%
NZDAUD       0.9132      1.1%
NZDCAD       0.8737      1.2%

Upcoming Data releases (NZST):

  • 13.00 - ANZ Business Confidence

 

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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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Daily benchmark rate
Source: RBNZ
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Source: RBNZ
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Source: RBNZ
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Source: RBNZ
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Source: RBNZ
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Source: RBNZ
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Source: RBNZ
End of day UTC
Source: CoinDesk

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