The New Zealand dollar rallied against other most-traded currencies today after the release of retail sales data and comments for the central bank’s chief. The currency has trimmed its gains by now but is still trading above the opening level.
Adrian Orr, Governor at the Reserve Bank of New Zealand, said in an interview today that he is pleased with where interest rates are at the present. Earlier this month, the RBNZ surprised markets by cutting interest rates by 50 basis points instead of expected 25 basis points. Orr argued that the bigger-than-expected cut allowed policymakers to get ahead of economic slowdown and reduced the need to do more in the future.
Statistics New Zealand reported that total volume of retail sales rose 0.2% in the June quarter after rising 0.7% in the March quarter. Analysts were counting on a smaller 0.1% increase. Total value of retail sales increased by 0.7% after rising 0.1% in the previous quarter. Gains in sales were registered in 11 of 16 regions.
NZD/USD traded at 0.6370 as of 12:51 GMT today after opening at 0.6365 and rising to the daily high of 0.6395. EUR/NZD declined from 1.7396 to 1.7366, touching the low of 1.7309 intraday. NZD/JPY was up from 67.71 to 67.86, while its session maximum was at 68.15.
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