Bernard Hickey details the key news overnight in 90 seconds at 9 am in association with Bank of New Zealand, including news the New Zealand dollar briefly touched a fresh post-float high of 83 USc overnight after Reserve Bank Governer Alan Bollard signalled yesterday the central bank would have to gradually lift interest rates by around 2% over the next two years to control inflation.
See our full report on the Reserve Bank's June quarter Monetary Policy Statement here.
The New Zealand dollar also rose to a post float high of 50.6 British pence and rose to a three year high of 71.1 on the Trade Weighted Index (TWI).
However, the currency remains well below the TWI record high of 76.6 hit in July 2007 when the Reserve Bank last intervened to push the currency lower.
See Alex Tarrant's article here on Bollard's approach to currency intervention.
Bollard commented on Thursday afternoon that the market's decision to push the currency sharply higher after the June Monetary Policy Statement (MPS) at 9am on Thursday morning was an over-reaction, but it didn't deter currency traders in London and New York from pushing it higher overnight. See all our MPS coverage here.
Elsewhere, the European Central Bank also held interest rate its official rate at 1.25% and signalled a hike in July, but it lowered slightly its expectations for inflation and said it saw inflation tracking back under 2%. The euro fell as markets trimmed their expectations for future ECB hikes. See more here at Reuters.
The oil price on NYMEX rose for a third day after OPEC's decision not to lift output and a US government forecast of almost two million barrels of new oil demand this year. See more here at Bloomberg.
The Dow rose, snapping a week-long losing streak. See more here at Reuters.
No chart with that title exists.
We welcome your comments below. If you are not already registered, please register to comment
Remember we welcome robust, respectful and insightful debate. We don't welcome abusive or defamatory comments and will de-register those repeatedly making such comments. Our current comment policy is here.