The New Zealand dollar rallied intraday despite underwhelming domestic macroeconomic data. One of the possible reasons for the rally was macroeconomic data in China, which showed that the economic growth of the Asian nation stabilized in the last quarter of 2019. Currently, though, the New Zealand currency has lost its gains versus most rivals, except for European majors. The kiwi was trading about flat against the euro and the Great Britain pound.
The National Bureau of Statistics of China released a report about major macroeconomic indicators for the end of 2019. It revealed that Chinese gross domestic product rose by 6.0% in the fourth quarter of 2019 compared with the same period of the previous year. The growth was the same as in the previous quarter and in line with market expectations. Most other indicators were also close to forecasts. Industrial production was an exception, rising by 6.9% in December, year-on-year, whereas economists had promised a slower rate of growth — 5.9%.
As for data in New Zealand, the seasonally adjusted Business NZ Performance of Manufacturing Index dropped to 49.3 in December from 51.2 in November. A reading below the neutral 50.0 level means that the industry turned from expansion to contraction.
NZD/USD dropped from 0.6634 to 0.6608 as of 16:05 GMT today after rallying to the daily high of 0.6650 earlier. EUR/NZD was down from 1.6780 to the low of 1.6739 intraday but has bounced to trade near the opening level later. GBP/NZD was little changed at 1.9703.
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