Little changed for Kiwi dollar as investors await more detail on Trump's economic policies
New Zealand will have a quiet start to the week.
The New Zealand dollar was little changed as investors await more detail on US president Donald Trump's plans to accelerate growth in the world's largest economy.
The kiwi traded at 71.56USc as at 8am in Wellington from 71.66USc on Friday in New York and 71.67USc at the close of local trading last week. The trade-weighted index slipped to 78.50 from 78.69.
The US dollar index, a measure of the greenback against a basket of currencies, slipped 0.3% after Trump's inauguration. The 45th US president successfully campaigned on a major infrastructure spend and tax reform, with more protectionist trade and immigration policies. That has supported the greenback since the November election as investors speculated those policies would generate inflationary pressures and spur the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates faster than previously anticipated, although details of those plans are still largely unclear.
"While US data continues to look reasonable and consistent with tightening from the Fed this year, for markets to again push a stronger US dollar theme (which has of course been a widely held consensus), it appears as though more details of Mr Trump’s economic plans are required; more than just rhetoric is now needed," ANZ Bank New Zealand senior economist Philip Borkin said in a note. "If, and until that occurs, it is difficult to envisage much in the way of New Zealand dollar weakness, particularly on a TWI basis, given still strong domestic economic credentials."
With no local data and Wellington on holiday for its anniversary day, Mr Borkin said New Zealand will have a quiet start to the week.
The kiwi fell to ¥81.67 from ¥82.07 on Friday in New York and declined to 4.9182 Chinese yuan from 4.9217 yuan. It slipped to 94.59Ac from 94.75Ac and traded at 66.77 euro cents from 66.88 cents. The kiwi was little changed at 57.83 British pence from 57.86 pence last week.
(BusinessDesk)
Paul McBeth
Mon, 23 Jan 2017
Mon, 23 Jan 2017
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Little changed for Kiwi dollar as investors await more detail on Trump's economic policies
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