The New Zealand dollar edged sharply lower against its major opponents on Thursday morning in Asia following the Reserve Bank of New Zealand noted in the statement after the interest rate decision that the pace of further rate increase is “likely to be more moderate than was projected in the June Statement”.
The Reserve Bank of New Zealand hiked its Official Cash Rate by 25 basis points to 3.00 percent. The increase was widely expected by economists. It was the second straight increase of 25 basis points for the RBNZ, which raised rates to 2.75 percent to 2.50 percent on June 10.
RBNZ Governor Alan Bollard said in a statement accompanying the announcement that while “the outlook for economic growth has softened somewhat, it is still appropriate to continue to reduce the extraordinary level of support implemented during the 2008/2009 recession.”
Bollard cautioned that while annual inflation has remained near 2 percent for the past five quarters, the picture may change. “As the economy grows, inflationary pressures are expected to pick up,” Bollard said. “Given this, some further removal of monetary policy stimulus is appropriate at this stage.”
In economic news, New Zealand’s trade balance shrank in the June month to NZ$276 million, down from the previous month’s NZ$814 million. For the June quarter, the trade balance was a surplus of NZ$389 million.
For the June 2010 month, exports were up NZ$552 million or 17 percent at NZ$3.8 billion, while imports were down NZ$56 million or 1.6 percent to NZ$3.5 billion.
Extending its previous session’s downtrend, the New Zealand dollar slipped to a 6-day low of 62.93 against the Japanese yen around 9:10 pm ET. The kiwi-yen pair, which finished Wednesday’s North American deals at 63.64, is presently worth 62.98 with 62.80 seen as the next likely support level.
In Japan, retail sales were up 3.2 percent on year in June, the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry said today, standing at JPY 11.004 trillion. That was in line with analyst expectations following the 2.8 percent increase in May.
On a monthly basis, retail sales were down a seasonally adjusted 0.4 percent – again matching expectations following the 2.0 percent contraction in May.
The New Zealand dollar slipped to a 3-week low of 1.2399 against the aussie around 8:50 pm ET and is approaching the 1.2430 support, which could set its weakest level in more than 5 weeks. The aussie-kiwi pair that closed Wednesday’s North American deals at 1.2297 is presently quoted at 1.2393.
dollar plunged to a 9-day low of 1.8051 around 5:10 pm ET and and the pair saw a choppy trend thereafter. The euro-kiwi pair, which ended yesterday’s deals at 1.7885, is presently worth 1.8009. If the New Zealand dollar declines further, 1.8150 is seen as the next likely target level.
The New Zealand dollar also fell to a 1-week low of 0.7205 against the US dollar around 5:10 pm ET, retreating from Tuesday’s fresh multi-month high of 0.7399, and this may be compared to Wednesday’s New York session close of 0.7274. The kiwi-buck pair is presently worth 0.7219 with 0.7090 seen as the next likely support level.
The greenback was generally weak after the Beige Book on Wednesday pointed to a less-than-booming economic recovery with sluggish housing markets and sales of costly items like new cars weakening. Overall, the report was less upbeat than June’s, which detailed a moderate economic rebound.
Looking ahead, Italian business confidence, German unemployment rate and the euro-zone consumer confidence data-all for the month of July and the French PPI data for June are expected to garner market attentions in the upcoming European session.
Turning to the U.S., market focus is likely to be on weekly jobless claims data for the weekended July 24, which is scheduled to be released at 8:30 am ET.
Hello, this weekend is fastidious in support of me, since this time i am reading this enormous educational piece of writing here at my house.
Its like you learn my mind! You appear to understand a lot about this, like you wrote the book in it or something.
I feel that you simply can do with a few percent to power the message house a little bit, however other than that, this is wonderful blog.
An excellent read. I’ll certainly be back.
Hey just wanted to give you a quick heads up. The text in your content seem to be running off the screen in Ie.
I’m not sure if this is a formatting issue or something to do with browser compatibility but
I figured I’d post to let you know. The style and
design look great though! Hope you get the issue solved
soon. Many thanks
Nice post. I learn something new and challenging on blogs I stumbleupon every day.
It’s always helpful to read through articles from other authors and practice a little something from their
sites. gamefly 3 month free trial
Hi! I know this is kinda off topic but I was wondering which blog platform are you using for this website?
I’m getting tired of WordPress because I’ve had issues with hackers and I’m looking at options for another platform.
I would be fantastic if you could point me in the direction of
a good platform. Gamefly 3 month free trial
We’re a group of volunteers and starting a new scheme in our community.
Your website offered us with valuable information to work on. You’ve done
an impressive job and our entire community will be grateful to you.
Gamefly 3 month free trial
My brother recommended I may like this blog. He was totally right.
This put up truly made my day. You cann’t imagine just how much
time I had spent for this info! Thank you!
Wow, great blog.Thanks Again. Much obliged.
Awesome blog article. Fantastic.
I really enjoy the post.Really thank you! Much obliged.