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NZ dollar vs US dollar
The New Zealand dollar should stay under US73 cents this week, with a soft opening to the market on Monday, Westpac's Imre Speizer says.
The kiwi dollar dipped from US72.72 on Friday night to US72.48 at 8am on Monday, though it edged up against the Australian dollar, to AU79.42 cents from AU79.31 cents on Friday.
Against the Euro, the kiwi was trading at 0.4958, from 0.4959, and was likewise largely unchanged against the yen, at 64.51 at 8am on Monday from 64.50 on Friday night.
The trade weighted index continued edging up slightly, to 65.24, from 65.21 on Friday and 64.88 on Thursday.
"The week starts with a soft tone. AUD has resistance at 0.9200
and looks like it will test 0.9100 on Monday, 0.8950 this week. The
New Zealand dollar should remain under 0.7300," Speizer says.
BNZ market strategist Mike Jones says the kiwi was last week's
strongest performing currency.
"After mooching around a 0.7050-0.7180 range for most of the week, the RBNZ statement on Thursday provided the NZD with fresh impetus for a gallop back towards 0.7300."
He forecasts short-term resistance for the kiwi around US73.30 cents, with the kiwi struggling to pass its year-to-date high of US76.30 cents before the end of the year.
In overseas markets, the greenback strengthened against all of the major currencies on Friday night as upbeat data boosted confidence in the US economic recovery, he says.
Last week, Moody's analysts said it saw no immediate threat to the ratings of the 17 nations it currently rated triple-A, although they would face a battle next year to manage their debt burdens.
Moody's, which has a stable outlook for UK government bonds, also said the outlook had not been materially changed by Britain's pre-budget report this week, but the pound rose after the rating agency's analysts reiterated in a presentation in Hong Kong that there was no threat to UK or US ratings right now.
Chinese industrial output growth in November jumped to its strongest since June 2007, underlining the economy's brisk recovery and reassuring investors watching the Asian giant.
"Chinese figures turned out to be largely within market forecasts and they showed the country's economy is still recovering steadily," says Yousuke Hosokawa, Chuo Mitsui Trust and Banking Company.
"Since there's been no major change in the global
economy...players are trading on short-term factors, in addition to
the year-end repatriation flow," he says.
