WSJ:New Zealand Dollar Down Late as U.S. Dollar Rises on Retail Data
By Lucy Craymer
WELLINGTON--The New Zealand dollar was trading lower late Tuesday after the currency moved lower in overnight trading following the release of better-than-expected U.S. retail sales data.
ANZ Bank said in a note that the U.S. retail sales data had reinforced the general trend of U.S. dollar buying. There has been a spate of U.S. dollar buying after the Wall Street Journal reported the Federal Reserve would slow--or even stop--its bond purchases.
U.S. retail and food service sales grew by 0.1% to a seasonally adjusted $419.03 billion, beating expectations of a 0.4% decline, according to the U.S. Commerce Department. Retail sales are a key component of consumer spending, which accounts for more than two-thirds of demand in the U.S. economy.
The New Zealand dollar was trading at US$0.8293 at 0527 GMT compared with US$0.8304 Monday. It touched a low of US$0.8245. The New Zealand dollar was at A$0.8302 versus A$0.8309 late Monday.
Mike Jones, a currency strategist at the Bank of New Zealand, said that the New Zealand dollar had pared back some of its overnight losses as exporters made the most of the recent declines in the currency to sell U.S. dollar earnings and buy the kiwi, while speculative investors exited their short positions in the New Zealand dollar.
New Zealand retail sales data during the session were largely ignored by the market even though they turned out disappointing. Statistics New Zealand said the volume of real retail sales rose 0.5% from the fourth quarter when they rose a revised 1.9%. The date came out slightly worse than the median forecast for a 0.8% rise in a Wall Street Journal poll of 11 economists.
The New Zealand April 2015 government bond rose 0.5 basis point to end at 2.485%, while the April 2023 bond rose 1.0 basis points to 3.43%.
