New Zealand dollar weakens on disappointing domestic trade data

The New Zealand dollar weakened slightly against the greenback after disappointing domestic trade data and after US President Donald Trump eased hopes for a quick resolution of the US-China trade dispute.

The kiwi was 67.64 US cents at 5 pm, compared to 67.84 US cents at 8 am and late yesterday. The trade weighted index was 73.10 to 73.96.

The risk appetite declined after Trump, a few days before a summit with the Chinese leader, told The Wall Street Journal that he hopes to go ahead and raise customs duties on $ 200 billion of Chinese goods to 25%, qualifying it as "highly unlikely" to accept Beijing's request. to keep moving.

On the domestic front, the kiwi lost ground after Statistics New Zealand said the trade deficit in October was $ 1.3 billion. Economists surveyed by Bloomberg expected a deficit of $ 850 million. The annual deficit was $ 5.8 billion against an expected deficit of $ 5.1 billion. This was the largest annual deficit since October 2007.

"The trade data were not too enlightening, they were corrected by yesterday's surprisingly low retail sales numbers, and after some very strong numbers we had some mixed numbers and the market was been taken a little by surprise, "said Imre Speizer, head of New Zealand's Westpac Banking Corp.

Investors are waiting for US Federal Reserve Vice President Richard Clarida's remarks later in the Global Trading Day, as well as Fed Chairman Jerome Powell's speech on Wednesday to provide clues on the rising cycle of the central bank 2019.

If they say cautious, "it could roll back the US dollar a bit," said Speizer.

He added that tomorrow's report on the financial stability of the Reserve Bank will also generate interest as it should ease the restrictions on high-risk mortgages.

The kiwi was traded at 59.68 euro cents against 59.82 cents yesterday, at 52.80 British pence from 52.94 pence yesterday and at 76.76 yen from 76, 80 yen.

The local currency was 93.62 Australian cents from 93.66 cents yesterday and fell to 4.6974 yuan from 4.7119 yuan.

In New Zealand, the two-year swap rate fell 2 basis points to 2.09%; the 10-year swaps fell 1 basis point to 2.93%.