The New Zealand dollar jumped against all of its most-traded rivals today as employment data released in New Zealand overnight came out much better than was expected.
Statistics New Zealand reported that the unemployment rate dropped to 3.9% in the September quarter from 4.4% in the previous three months, whereas experts had predicted it to stay unchanged. Employment rose 1.1%, more than two times the forecast increase of 0.5%. The labor cost index rose by 0.5%, in line with expectations.
Released separately by the Reserve Bank of New Zealand, inflation expectations for the next two years remained at 2.0% in the December quarter, unchanged from the value in the previous quarter.
Now, traders wait for a monetary decision by the RBNZ that should be announced at 20:00 GMT today. Analysts do not expect the central bank to change its monetary policy, with the main interest rate staying at 1.75%. Therefore, market participants will be focused on the wording of the statement, paying special attention to hints about possible interest rate cut.
NZD/USD traded at 0.6783 as of 10:08 GMT today after opening at 0.6737 and falling to the daily low of 0.6702. EUR/NZD rallied to the high of 1.7034 before returning to the opening level of 1.6950 later. NZD/JPY opened at 76.42, dropped to the daily low of 75.93, but rebounded to 76.63 later.
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