Kiwi Gains As Stocks Continue to Rise

March 17th, 2009

The Kiwi stayed flat yesterday, before jumping overnight as investor risk appetite continued to strengthen.

The local session saw the Kiwi stay flat as investor sentiment overrode the influence of more poor local data. Manufacturing sales volume fell over 5% in quarter 4 last year, which, after 4 consecutive quarters of contraction, now finds itself at its lowest level on record. Read Full Article »

Kiwi up as stock markets rebound

March 5th, 2009

The Kiwi climbed overnight as a small degree of confidence returned to global equity markets.

It wasn’t all sunshine and kittens for the Kiwi though as the local session saw it and AUD pulled back from the previous night’s gains. The biggest drop came when the Australian GDP figures were released showing a surprising contraction of 0.5% in Q4 2008 – the first drop in 8 years and considerably under the expected 0.2% rise. The AUD dropped a cent against the USD on the news (pulling the Kiwi lower) as investors wondered whether the RBA’s confidence had been misplaced, with pressure now being brought to bear for a large rate cut in April. Read Full Article »

Aussie Up on China Hopes

March 5th, 2009

Australia saw it’s first shock GDP contraction in eight years in yesterdays domestic session.  GDP figures came out at -0.5% vs a positive expectation. The AUD spiraled towards 0.6300 as analysts started pricing in further rate cuts for April.  Read Full Article »

Aussie Moves Higher - Will it Last?

March 4th, 2009

The Aussie received some much needed support in the domestic session yesterday as the RBA surprised some by keeping interest rates on hold at 3.25%.The RBA commented that although sentiment remains fragile, it is too soon to see the effects of the past seven months of rate cuts. A strong Retail Sales figure also helped pave the way for the decision, being released at +0.2% vs a -0.6% expectation, showing demand hasn’t weakened as much as other economies.  Read Full Article »

Risk Aversion, US dollar as safe haven

March 4th, 2009

Risk aversion, US dollar as safe haven

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke said policy makers may need to expand aid to the banking system, prompting the dollar to trade at a high level since April 2006 against six of the major currencies. “Bernanke is telling the public that the Fed and the government will act to support the banking system, which is a support for the U.S. dollar,” said Susumu Kato, chief economist in Tokyo at Calyon Securities, a unit of France’s Credit Agricole SA. “Stronger initiatives by the U.S. will be the driving force of currency markets.” Read Full Article »