Kiwi slips after RBA comment, slower Chinese data
The New Zealand dollar extends its decline after the Reserve Bank of Australia warns the strength of its currency is threatening the economy.
Hot Topic
EARNINGS
© All content copyright NBR. Do not reproduce in any form without permission, even if you have a paid subscription.
BUSINESSDESK: The New Zealand dollar extended its decline after the Reserve Bank of Australia warned the strength of its currency is threatening the economy and Chinese trade figures came in short of expectations.
The kiwi is poised for a 1.2% weekly decline as it fell to 80.91 US cents at 5pm in Wellington from 81.19 cents at 8am and 81.49 cents yesterday. The trade-weighted index fell to 72.89 from 73.02 yesterday and faces a 0.8 weekly decline.
The RBA warned Australia faces risks around the strength of its dollar, which traded at $US1.0522 at 5pm in Wellington, and that the "persistently high level of the exchange rate may be more contractionary for the economy than historical relationships suggest", according to the minutes of this week's meeting.
That dented investors' appetite for the pair, which have been under pressure this week as policy makers on both sides of the Tasman try to talk them down.
"Both currencies will go lower tonight as they look over-extended and have had unabated rises," said Tim Kelleher, head of institutional FX sales NZ at ASB Institutional. "There's still another day or two of weakness [in the kiwi]."
Demand for the trans-Tasman currencies was also dented by weaker-than-expected Chinese trade figures, which showed the world's second biggest economy reported a 1% increase in outbound shipments last month from a year earlier and a 4.7% rise in imports.
Analysts were picking export growth of 8% and an increase in imports of 7%.
New Zealand figures today showed a fall in spending on electronic cards last month, adding to the downbeat tone from yesterday's worse than expected unemployment rate, which prompted economists to push out their expectations for central bank rate hikes.
Traders are now pricing in 6 basis points of cuts to the 2.5% official cash rate in the coming 12 months, according to the Overnight Index Swap curve, compared to a one-point increase priced in yesterday.
Mr Kelleher said the currency may trade between 80.60 US cents and 81.15 cents in the Northern Hemisphere session.
The kiwi was little changed at 76.83 Australian cents from 76.76 cents yesterday and fell to 63.60 yen from 63.87 yen. It slid to 51.79 British pence from 51.91 pence and increased to 65.83 euro cents from 65.71 cents.
Paul McBeth
Fri, 10 Aug 2012
Fri, 10 Aug 2012
© All content copyright NBR. Do not reproduce in any form without permission, even if you have a paid subscription.
Free News Alerts
Sign up to get the latest stories and insights delivered to your inbox – free, every day.
Kiwi slips after RBA comment, slower Chinese data
22867