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The Opening Bell: Where currencies start on Thursday, February 15, 2018

Currencies
The Opening Bell: Where currencies start on Thursday, February 15, 2018

By Dan Bell

The NZDUSD opens at 0.7364 (mid-rate) this morning.

The NZD is the strongest performing of the G10 currencies after the RBNZ quarterly business confidence survey showed business managers forecast annual inflation to average 2.11% over the next two years, from 2.02% in Q4 survey. The 12 month inflation expectation inched down 0.1% to 1.86% from Q4’s 1.87% prediction.

The US inflation data printed ahead of expectations with the USD spiking higher on the announcement before gradually reversing the move over the next two hours.

The Labour Department report showed January CPI rose to 0.5% following an upwardly revised 0.2% result. Economists had forecast the index to rise by to 0.3% up from December’s previously reported 0.1% rise. Core consumer prices which exclude food and energy prices rose by 0.3% in January after inching up by 0.2% in December. Core prices had been expected to increase by 0.2%.

US retail sales for the month of January unexpectedly decreased, with the Commerce Department report showing sales fell by 0.3% following December’s 0.4% increase. Economists had expected January’s retail sales to increase by 0.2%.

Today the NZDAUD cross rate direction will be driven by this afternoon’s Australian monthly employment report, while overnight tonight US PPI along with their manufacturing data will be closely monitored.

Global equity markets are broadly higher - Dow +0.21%, S&P 500 +0.62%, FTSE +0.64%, DAX +1.17%, CAC +1.10%, Nikkei -0.43, Shanghai +0.45%.

Gold prices have surged higher up 1.5% trading at $1,345 an ounce. WTI Crude Oil prices are edging higher, up 0.3% trading at $59.20 a barrel.

Current indicative rates:

NZDUSD 0.7364 1.2%
NZDEUR  0.5925 0.6%
NZDGBP 0.5263 0.4%
NZDJPY 78.72 0.4%
NZDAUD 0.9312 0.5%
NZDCAD 0.9226 0.6%
GBPNZD 1.9001 -0.4%

Upcoming Data releases (NZST):

  • 13:30 - AUD - Employment Report

 

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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: RBNZ
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End of day UTC
Source: CoinDesk

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