The New Zealand dollar was trading in the green today, rising against the majority of most-traded currencies, except for the Australian dollar and the Great Britain pound. The kiwi rallied because the market sentiment seemed to favor riskier currencies. Domestic macroeconomic data was positive, while reports in China, New Zealand’s biggest trading partner, were mixed.
Statistics New Zealand reported that manufacturing sales rose by 10.0%, seasonally adjusted, in the September quarter of this year from the previous three months. The increase followed a drop of 11.9% registered in the previous quarter. Year-on-year, the value of sales declined by 1.3%. Business insights manager Sue Chapman explained the quarterly rebound:
In June these industries were heavily impacted by COVID-19, however, in September, levels have rebounded and are in fact higher than any other September quarter on record. This could be due to a rise in demand and more stability in these industries.
As for Chinese macroeconomic indicators, the Consumer Price Index fell by 0.5% in November, year-on-year, after rising at the same rate in the previous month. Analysts were not expecting any change to the index. The Producer Price Index fell by 1.5%, slowing from October’s rate of decline — 2.1%. Market participants were expecting a bigger drop of 1.8%.
NZD/USD gained from 0.7042 to 0.7076 as of 12:44 GMT today. EUR/NZD declined from 1.7179 to 1.7109. At the same time, AUD/NZD rallied from 0.7408 to 0.7473.
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