NZ dollar firms ahead of data, US policy speech

Tuesday 15th January 2013

The New Zealand dollar was testing 84 US cents in early trading after having a strong session overnight as the US dollar weakened.

The kiwi was at 83.94 US cents at 8am, up from 84.02 US cents at 5pm on Monday. It traded as high as 84.30 overnight.

Support at 83.60 cents held on Monday so the kiwi resumed its upward trend.

The NZIER Quarterly Survey of Business Opinion and a residential property market report this morning will provide fresh information on the state of the economy, but a speech by US Federal Reserve boss Ben Bernanke at the same time may be of more interest to traders.

"There have been some Fed guys speaking overnight. They are going down the line that the US economy is improving but the path is still not clear," Stuart Ive, currency strategist at HiFx said.

That translates into a stronger kiwi purely on the basis that the Fed is going to stimulate their economy for longer potentially," he said.

The NZIER survey was not a massive market mover but it would be noted, he said.

"All eyes will be on Bernanke today," he said.

The kiwi was at 75.03 yen at 8am from 75.31 at 5pm on Monday. It was at 62.82 euro from 62.71 euro and at 52.25 British pence from 52.00 on Monday.

Against the Australian dollar it was at 79.51 Australian cents from 79.62 cents on Monday.

The trade-weighted index was at 75.29 from 75.32.

BusinessDesk.co.nz

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