Kiwi Dollar Slashed Following NZ Unemployment Rate Announcements - APAC Update

The Kiwi opens down at 0.6756, and the AUD opens down at 0.7098

APAC news

A lot of the action on Thursday was the damage done to the Kiwi as New Zealand’s unemployment rate come out. It came in poorly, ticking up to 4.3%, and revising last quarters up to 4%. The NZD was hit hard and fast, selling off by about 1% across the board. The AUD was more reactive yesterday, unable to snap back from the dovish tones of Lowe.

Europe market

The Bank of England left interest rates unchanged at 0.75.% as widely expected. Bank of England Governor, Mark Carney alluded to the fact that were it not for Brexit uncertainty, rates could be higher. This sends signals to the market that if a Brexit separation deal is struck, investors will benefit from the initial large increase in the Pound's value. There will  will get follow through on the fact that the next move in rates from there looks likely to be up.

Out of the Europe, the European commission has dropped growth forecasts for 2019 GDP to 1.3% from 1.9%. This is a pretty large decrease, followed by a pretty large yawn from the markets. Be careful though, as it is just adding more straw to the back of global growth.

Upcoming data

Employment data out of Canada is the only expected thing on the calendar of note.

Global equity markets have had a quiet day yesterday, Dow -1.25%, S&P 500 -1.32%, FTSE -1.11%, DAX -2.67%, CAC -1.84%, Nikkei -0.59%, Shanghai +1.3%. Gold prices are flat, still trading at 1,313 an ounce. WTI Crude Oil prices have fallen, down 3.4% trading at $52.22 a barrel.

Mid-market rates

AUDUSD0.7098-0.2%NZDUSD0.6756-1.1%AUDEUR0.6251-0.2%NZDEUR0.5949-1.0%AUDGBP0.5472-0.5%NZDGBP0.5210-1.3%AUDJPY77.94-0.4%NZDJPY74.19-1.2%AUDNZD1.05030.8%NZDAUD0.9516-0.9%GBPAUD1.82460.4%NZDCAD0.8988-0.3% GBPNZD1.91911.3%
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