NZ dollar edges up as Wall Street reopens, remains in recent range

Thursday 1st November 2012

The New Zealand dollar edged up while remaining in its recent trading range as Wall Street reopened and traders looked ahead to key manufacturing data from China.

The kiwi dollar rose to 82.22 US cents from 82.15 cents at 5pm in Wellington yesterday. The trade-weighted index rose to 73.34 from 73.25.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average was 0.1 percent lower in late trading after being halted for Hurricane Sandy. Later today, China releases its official PMI survey which is expected to show manufacturing kept at pace in the world's second-largest economy and New Zealand's No. 2 export market.

"Reduced trading volumes thanks to the US super storm, the seemingly contained situation in European debt markets, and global data broadly aligning with forecasts for a modest pick-up in global growth have all conspired to keep currencies range-bound and volatility low of late," Mike Jones, currency strategist at Bank of New Zealand, said in his morning note.

Jones said one month NZD/USD volatility, as traded in the options market, has fallen to 8.3 percent, a level not seen since before the global financial crisis, and well below the long-run average of 13.5 percent.

The kiwi dollar rose to 65.64 yen from 65.37 yen and traded at 79.18 Australian cents from 79.16 cents.

The New Zealand dollar traded at 64.40 euro cents from 63.39 cents and fell to 50.96 British pence from 51.08 pence.

BusinessDesk.co.nz

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