The New Zealand dollar opened sharply lower against some of its major rivals today but has managed to recover by now. The kiwi also extended its Friday’s gains against several other rivals. Positive domestic macroeconomic data was perhaps one of the reasons for the currency’s decent performance today.
Statistics New Zealand reported that the overseas trade index rose by 1.6% in the June quarter from the previous three months. That was a nice surprise to market participants who were counting on the same 1.0% increase as in the March quarter.
New Zealand’s Treasury released its Monthly Economic Indicators report for August. The Treasury highlighted in the report key risks to the New Zealand economic growth:
-Continued weakness in business confidence to weigh on domestic economic growth.
-Unemployment reaches 11 year low at 3.9% for the June quarter of 2019.
-Commodity prices and visitor numbers fell, which may reduce export receipts.
-Renewed US-China trade tensions lead to significant market volatility.
-Global slowdown in manufacturing continues, but shows little sign of spilling over into services.
NZD/USD rose from 0.6296 to 0.6308 as of 17:32 GMT today, trading near the Friday’s close. EUR/NZD dropped from 1.7418 to 1.7382. GBP/NZD sank from 1.9244 to 1.9115.
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