Market Commentary and Intraday News

NZ Dollar Climbs On Risk Appetite

285 days ago

(RTTNews) - The New Zealand dollar spiked up against most major counterparts in the late Asian session on Friday as Asian stocks advanced following European Central Bank's bond-buying program.

European Central Bank President Mario Draghi on Thursday unveiled the bank's latest bond purchase plan, as expected, in a bid to tackle the euro area debt crisis.

"The Governing Council today decided on the modalities for undertaking Outright Monetary Transactions (OMTs) in secondary markets for sovereign bonds in the euro area," Draghi said in his introductory statement to the regular post-decision press conference.

"As we said a month ago, we need to be in the position to safeguard the monetary policy transmission mechanism in all countries of the euro area."

Investors also welcomed China's stimulus measures, which includes plan for infrastructure projects to spur growth.

The kiwi rose to 0.8040 against the U.S. dollar, its highest level in a week. On the upside, the kiwi may target 0.81 level. The kiwi-greenback pair closed yesterday's deals at 0.8016.

The U.S. employment index increased rose 6 percent year-on-year in August, Monster Worldwide said. The index climbed to 156 from 147 in July.

The kiwi that closed Thursday's deals at 63.22 against the yen hit a 10-day high of 63.46. The next resistance level for the kiwi-yen pair is seen at 63.6.

Japan's leading economic index declined for a fourth consecutive month in July, preliminary data released by the Cabinet Office showed.

The leading index, which is designed to measure the direction of the economy in the months ahead, fell to 91.8 in July from 93.2 in June. Economists were looking for decline to 91.6.

The NZ dollar also outperformed against the euro, approaching 1.5732, its strongest level since September 3. The kiwi may break 1.565 level on the upside. At Thursday's close, the euro-kiwi pair was quoted at 1.5768.

German industrial production for July, U.K. PPI for August and industrial production for July are due shortly.

The U.S. and Canadian employment data for August, Canadian building permits for July and the Ivey PMI for August are the major economic reports due out in the North American session.

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