New Zealand Dollar Firm After Wheeler’s Speech

The New Zealand dollar rallied today (though it has backed off from daily highs by now) following the speech of the central bank’s chief that was considered by markets to be rather hawkish.

Graeme Wheeler, Governor of the Reserve Bank of New Zealand, delivered a speech close to the end of the previous trading session. In it, he said that the trend for lower interest rates and a stronger currency “may finally be turning.” Markets interpreted this (and other comments in the speech) as a sign that the central bank may start raising interest rates next year.

NZD/USD rose from 0.7162 to 0.7202 as of 12:52 GMT today, and its daily high was at 0.7221. NZD/JPY was up from 81.45 to 81.84, trading near the highest level since January 4.

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