The New Zealand dollar edged lower against its U.S. counterpart on Monday, as the release of disappointing economic reports from China and Japan weighed on demand for risk-related assets. NZD/USD hit 0.8451 during late Asian trade, the pairs lowest since March 7; the pair subsequently consolidated at 0.8451, slipping 0.23%. The pair was likely to find support at 0.8407, the low of March 6 and resistance at 0.8524, the high of March 7 and a four-and-a-half month high. Data released over the weekend showed that Chinese exports fell 18.1% on a year-over-year basis in February, confounding expectations for a 6.8% increase, following a rise of 10.6% in January. China is New Zealands second biggest export partner. A separate report showed that the annual rate of inflation in China slowed to 2.0% in February, from 2.5% in January. The data added to fears over a slowdown in the world’s second largest economy, and overshadowed last Friday’s stronger-than-forecast U.S. jobs report for February. The U.S. economy added 175,000 jobs in February, the Labor Department reported, well above expectations for 149,000 new jobs. In Japan, data on Monday showed that the country posted record current account deficit of 1.589 trillion yen in January and fourth quarter growth was revised down. Japans economy grew 0.2% in the final three months of 2013, below the preliminary estimate for growth of 0.3%. On a year-over-year basis, the economy expanded by 0.7%, compared to an initial estimate of 1.0%. The kiwi was higher against the Australian dollar, with AUD/NZD shedding 0.29% to 1.0682.
Posted on: Mon, 10 Mar 2014 09:19:27 +0000