NZ dollar trades near 3-week high against greenback
The New Zealand dollar showed mixed performance against its major opponents in early New York trading on Wednesday. While, the kiwi dollar drifted higher against the US dollar, the Japanese yen and the Australian dollar it showed weakness against the euro.
Economic news from New Zealand showed today that the nation’s employment confidence index declined 17.2 points to 104 in the fourth quarter of 2008. The Westpac McDermott Miller survey report indicated that the index dropped its lowest level since survey began in 2004.
A separate report by the ANZ Bank said today that New Zealand’s commodity prices fell again in December, representing the fifth consecutive month of decline. The ANZ Commodity Price Index dropped 7.4% month-on-month in December, at the same pace as in November. Year-on-year, the index slipped 24.4% in the month compared with an 18.3% drop in November.
The New Zealand dollar soared to near a 3-week high of 0.6037 versus the greenback by 8:35 am ET and is presently trading at 0.6003. The kiwi was worth 0.5988 against the US dollar at yesterday’s close. On the upside, the kiwi may find target near 0.608.
The greenback weakened across the board after a report from the US showed that private sector employment decreased by more than expected in December. According to the report released by Automatic Data Processing Inc. (ADP), non-farm private employment fell by 693,000 jobs in December following a revised decrease of 476,000 jobs in November. Economists had been expecting the report to show a somewhat more modest decrease of about 450,000 jobs.
The New Zealand dollar drifted slightly higher to 55.95 against the Japanese yen by 9:20 am ET, up from today’s early European session low of 55.40. The current trend shows the NZ dollar is nearing 56 level and breaching of the 56.4 level will set the kiwi to reach an 8-week high. The pair that closed Tuesday’s North American deals at 56.10 is presently trading at 55.62.
Against the common currency of Europe, the New Zealand dollar dropped from a 54-day high in early trading and leveled off in New York morning. The kiwi that rose as high as 2.2493 versus the euro early in the Asian session drifted lower to 2.2912 at about 6:40 am ET. As of now, the euro-kiwi pair is trading at 2.2771. The pair was quoted 2.2614 at yesterday’s close.
In economic news from the euro area, the Eurostat revealed in a report that the Euro zone industrial producer price index, or PPI rose 3.3% year-over-year in November, slower than the 6.3% recorded in the previous month. Economists were looking for the rate of 4.4%. On a monthly basis, the industrial PPI dropped 1.9% in November, after falling 0.8% in October. Economists had predicted a decrease of 1%.
At the same time, the German Federal Statistical Office said in a report that the ILO jobless rate stood at a seasonally adjusted 7.1% in November, compared with 8% recorded in the previous year. In October, the rate was 7.1%. The November rate was in line with economists’ expectations.
Meanwhile, a separate report from the Federal Labor Agency showed that the number unemployed in Germany rose seasonally adjusted 18,000 in December. The number exceeded the expected figure of 10,000. At the same time, the labor office revised November’s decrease to 4,000 from 10,000 reported initially.
The New Zealand dollar climbed a 5-day high of 1.1982 against the Australian dollar by 10:05 am ET mainly due to across the board weakening of the latter. The Aussie that closed Tuesday’s New York session at 1.2088 is currently trading near 1.20.
In economic news from Australia, retail sales in November rose by a seasonally adjusted 0.4 percent. The Australian Bureau of Statistics also said today that trend retail sales increased by 0.1 percent on month. The result follows a trend increase of 0.2 percent in each of the preceding three months. November trend 2008 retail sales increased 1.9 percent over those in November 2007.
At the same time, sales of new houses in Australia declined a seasonally adjusted 1.1 percent in November, according to survey results released today by the Housing Industry Association (HIA). The November decline compares to an increase in overall new house sales of 4.5 percent registered in October.
