NZ Dollar Extends Rise Amid Risk Appetite
November 25 2015 - 6:51PM
RTTF2
The New Zealand dollar continued to be strong against the other
major currencies in the Asian session on Thursday, as Asian stocks
rose on growing ECB stimulus bets that the European Central Bank is
mulling various options to ease monetary policy further even before
the U.S. Federal Reserve looks set to raise interest rates.
Geopolitical worries also eased after U.S. President Barack
Obama and the NATO military alliance supported Turkey's right to
defend its sovereignty and stressed about the need to de-escalate
tensions.
In other economic news, data from Statistics New Zealand showed
that New Zealand posted a merchandise trade deficit of NZ$963
million in October, representing 25 percent of exports. The
headline figure exceeded expectations for a shortfall of NZ$1.00
billion and was up from the NZ$1.222 billion deficit in
September.
Exports slipped 4.5 percent on year to NZ$3.83 billion, shy of
forecasts for NZ$4.00 billion but up from NZ$3.69 billion in the
previous month. Imports fell an annual 2.2 percent to NZ$4.79
billion versus expectations for NZ$4.97 billion and down from
NZ$4.91 billion a month earlier.
Meanwhile, crude oil prices rose as U.S. producers continued to
shut down rigs amid tight margins and U.S. crude inventories rose
less-than-expected last week. Crude oil for January delivery are
currently up $0.14 to $43.18 a barrel.
The U.S. oil rig count fell by 9 to 555 this week, according to
driller Baker Hughes. That's sharply down from above 1500 the same
time a year ago.
Data from the Energy Information Administration showed that the
crude inventories rose to 1 million barrels in the week ended
November 20, less than economists' expectation for an increase of
1.2 million barrels.
Wednesday, the NZ dollar rose to 0.36 percent against the U.S.
dollar, 0.52 percent against the yen and 0.52 percent against the
euro.
In the Asian trading, the NZ dollar rose to 6-day highs of
0.6588 against the U.S. dollar, 80.81 against the yen and 1.0972
against the Australian dollar, from yesterday's closing quotes of
0.6576, 80.70 and 1.1018, respectively. If the kiwi extends its
uptrend, it is likely to find resistance around 0.68 against the
greenback, 82.00 against the yen and 1.08 against the aussie.
Against the euro, the kiwi advanced to 1.6116 from yesterday's
closing value of 1.6146. The kiwi is likely to find resistance
around the 1.60 region.
Looking ahead, Swiss industrial production for the third
quarter, Eurozone M3 money supply data for October and German Gfk
consumer confidence index for December are due later in the
day.
U.S. banks will be closed in observance of Thanksgiving Day
holiday.
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