NZ dollar little changed as risk-on rally runs out of steam

Thursday 14th July 2016

The New Zealand dollar was little changed as stock markets and commodity prices ended their rally over recent days with figures showing US fuel supplies unexpectedly grew.

The kiwi traded at 72.68 US cents at 8am in Wellington from 72.58 cents yesterday. The trade-weighted index was little changed at 77.58 from 77.44.

Brent Crude oil prices fell 4.2 percent to US$46.45 a barrel after Energy Information and Administration figures showed US gas supplies rose 1.21 million barrels last week, outpacing a fall in demand. Stocks on Wall Street were mixed with the Dow Jones Industrial Average edging up 0.1 percent and the Nasdaq Composite Index down 0.2 percent, while European equities were down across the board.

"The risk rally appears to be sputtering out with US equities turning slightly negative, oil and US Treasury bond yields lower," ANZ Bank New Zealand senior rates strategist David Croy said in a note. "NZD remains in a 'buy on dips' tempo. Notwithstanding that, we expect the NZD to tread water ahead of a slew of local partial data, and to mimic moves in the AUD following all-important Australian June jobs data."

The kiwi was little changed at 95.52 Australian cents from 95.41 cents ahead of Australia's employment report.

Local data today includes the BusinessNZ-BNZ performance of manufacturing index, ANZ-Roy Morgan consumer confidence survey, and Reserve Bank figures on foreign holdings of government bonds.

The kiwi rose to 55.32 British pence from 54.52 pence yesterday ahead of the Bank of England policy review on Thursday in London. Theresa May was sworn in as the UK's new prime minister who will oversee the nation's exit from the European Union. The kiwi was little changed at 65.51 euro cents from 65.61 cents yesterday.

The local currency rose to 75.90 yen from 75.59 yen as the market speculates on how much extra stimulus policy makers plan to pump into the world's third-biggest economy after Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's conservative coalition won the upper house in the weekend election.

The kiwi increased to 4.8573 Chinese yuan from 4.8518 yuan yesterday.

BusinessDesk.co.nz

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