Thursday 12 January 2017 08:35 AM
NZ dollar touches month-high as Trump's first press conference offers little insight into stimulus
By Paul McBeth
Jan. 12 (BusinessDesk) - The New Zealand dollar hit a month-high as investors were disappointed US president-elect
Donald Trump didn't provide much detail on his spending programme in his first press conference, prompting a sell-off in
the greenback.
The kiwi rose as high as 70.87 US cents, trading at 70.60 US cents as at 8am in Wellington from 69.97 cents yesterday.
The trade-weighted index advanced to 77.88 from 77.45.
The US dollar index, a measure of the greenback against a basket of currencies, fell 0.5 percent after Trump's hour-long
press conference focused on reports of Russian interference in last year's US presidential election and an intelligence
report that Russia holds compromising information about the president-elect. Investors were hoping for more details
about Trump's planned spending on infrastructure and tax reform, which took a back seat in the briefing.
"The USD index was trading a fairly steady path higher overnight, before a bout of volatility as the US president-elect
gave a scheduled press conference early this morning," Bank of New Zealand senior market strategist Kymberly Martin said
in a note. "He covered many topics, but gave little detail on any fiscal stimulus plans. After his free-ranging comments
the USD has fallen."
The kiwi rose to 57.70 British pence from 57.46 pence yesterday after Bank of England governor Mark Carney told
policymakers the UK's exit from the European Union was no longer the biggest domestic threat to financial stability, and
that the cost of not setting up a transitional deal would be higher for the continent than for the UK. The local
currency increased to 66.58 euro cents from 66.30 cents yesterday.
The kiwi edged up to 81.25 yen from 81.12 yen yesterday and climbed to 4.8944 Chinese yuan from 4.8432 yuan. It was
little changed at 94.74 Australian cents from 94.77 cents.
(BusinessDesk)
ends