NZ dollar gains vs. yen as US jobs figures loom, keeping Japanese currency under pressure
By Paul McBeth
Jan. 8 (BusinessDesk) - The New Zealand dollar touched a new six-year high against the yen as looming US payrolls
figures kept Japan’s currency under pressure amid expectations an improving American labour market will spur the Federal
Reserve to unwind its asset purchase programme at a faster pace.
The kiwi rose as high as 86.95 yen, trading at 86.92 yen at 5pm in Wellington from 86.37 yen yesterday. It traded at
82.82 US cents from 82.77 cents at 8am and up from 82.62 cents yesterday.
Japan’s yen weakened to 104.87 per US dollar at 5pm in Wellington from 104.52 yesterday ahead of the ADP private
payrolls report in the US, a precursor to official government jobs figures on Friday in Washington. The US Fed is
keeping close tabs on the strength of the labour market as it weighs the pace of withdrawing its monetary stimulus. The
minutes for the Fed’s December policy meeting will also come out on Wednesday in Washington.
“It’s a fairly quiet market – the US employment numbers this week will be the highlight,” said Alex Hill, head of
dealing at HiFX in Auckland. “It all depends on how the non-farm payrolls come out” for the kiwi, he said.
New Zealand realty figures today showed housing turnover Auckland in December slowed with dwindling listings, something
HiFX’s Hill said suggested the Reserve Bank’s restrictions on low equity home lending might be having an earlier effect
than anticipated.
“The RBNZ may be getting the effect that they wanted,” Hill said. “We didn’t expect it to show the full effect until
March or April, so it will be interest to see whether that changes the interest rate outlook.”
The kiwi dollar rose to 92.87 Australian cents at 5pm in Wellington from 92.50 cents yesterday, and increased to 60.84
euro cents from 60.63 cents. It gained to 50.55 British pence from 50.38 pence yesterday. The trade-weighted index
advanced to 78.49 from 78.19 yesterday.
(BusinessDesk)