NZ dollar set for action-packed week after lacklustre Thanksgiving trading

Monday 30th November 2015

The New Zealand dollar starts the week lower after the US dollar advanced towards the end of last week amid low liquidity with many traders on holiday.

The kiwi slipped to 65.27 US cents at 8am in Wellington, from 65.30 cents at the New York close and 65.69 cents at 5pm on Friday. The trade-weighted index was at 71.22 from 71.49 on Friday.

The US dollar advanced at the end of last week as currency markets experienced low volumes and poor liquidity as traders took an extended break around the US Thanksgiving holiday on Thursday. This week is set to be much more action packed, with central bank meetings in Australia and Europe, speeches by Federal Reserve officials including Janet Yellen and the final US payroll report before the Fed's December interest rate review where it is expected to hike.

"The less that is said about Friday’s trading, the better. Most of the US market looked to have made the sensible decision of bridging Thursday’s Thanksgiving holiday and the weekend. With thin liquidity, there’s little to gain trying to make rhyme or reason of broader market moves," Bank of New Zealand currency strategist Raiko Shareef said in a note. "After last week’s doldrums, this week’s agenda will come as a shock to the system. There are an excessive number of top-tier data releases and policy events due."

Shareef expects the kiwi may trade below 65 US cents this week, and could break below 64 cents.

In New Zealand today, October building consent data is published at 10:45am and the ANZ monthly business confidence survey is released at 1pm.

The New Zealand dollar slipped to 90.69 Australian cents from 90.93 cents on Friday. Australian credit, house sales, inflation and company profit data are released today, while the Reserve Bank of Australia reviews interest rates tomorrow.

The local currency weakened to 4.1737 yuan from 4.2005 yuan on Friday. The International Monetary Fund is expected to announce today that China's currency will join the fund's group of international reserve currencies which currently includes the US dollar, the euro, the yen and the British pound, the BBC reported. China is the world's second-largest economy behind the US, and asked for its currency to become a reserve currency last year.

The kiwi fell to 61.63 euro cents from 61.91 cents, edged lower to 43.41 British pence from 43.51 pence, and declined to 80.17 yen from 80.53 yen.

BusinessDesk.co.nz

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