The NZDUSD opens at 0.6751 (mid-rate) this morning.
Global equity markets along with the USD pushed higher on Friday as optimism that the US and China are making progress towards agreeing a new trade deal grew.
Following a Wall Street Journal report on Thursday which said that the US are considering lifting tariffs on Chinese goods in a goodwill effort to give China a reason to make deeper concessions in ongoing trade talks, Bloomberg reported on Friday that according to an official familiar with the negotiations China will seek to reduce its trade surplus with the US by increasing annual goods imports by a combined value of more than $1 trillion.
The weekend’s US economic data releases delivered mixed results with industrial production for the month of December printing slightly better than expected, with increases in manufacturing and mining output more than offsetting a pullback in utilities output, while consumer sentiment in January fell to its lowest level since October 2016.
Overnight tonight UK Prime Minister Theresa May will launch a fresh bid to win support for her rejected Brexit deal by trying to bypass the European Union and secure a bilateral Brexit treaty with Ireland. Under the new proposal the UK would try to convince the Irish government to negotiate a treaty that would remove the need for the backstop and would see the UK enter into a temporary customs union with the EU while Northern Ireland would agree to abide by European rules on goods until a subsequent deal was reached.
The key driver for the NZD during our trading will be Wednesday’s Q4 inflation report which is expected to come in flat following on from Q3’s 0.9% increase.
Global equity markets are largely negative, Dow -0.37%, S&P 500 -0.48%, FTSE -0.91%, DAX -0.29%, CAC -0.39%, Nikkei +0.97%, Shanghai -0.71%.
Gold prices are little changed trading at $1,290 an ounce. WTI Crude Oil prices have edged lower, down 0.6% trading at $51.62 a barrel.
Current indicative rates:
| NZDUSD | 0.6751 | -0.5% |
| NZDEUR | 0.5945 | -0.7% |
| NZDGBP | 0.5245 | 0.5% |
| NZDJPY | 74.02 | -0.2% |
| NZDAUD | 0.9409 | 0.1% |
| NZDCAD | 0.8958 | -0.3% |
| GBPNZD | 1.9066 | -0.5% |
Upcoming Data releases (NZST):
- 15:00 - CNY GDP
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Marcus Phillips is the Affiliate manager at xe money transfer in Auckland. You can contact him here »
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