The New Zealand dollar was almost flat against its US counterpart but fell against such currencies as the euro and the Japanese yen amid underwhelming domestic macroeconomic data and the unfavorable general market sentiment.
The New Zealand trade balance logged a deficit of NZ$285 million in January — a sharp increase from the previous month’s gap of NZ$36 million. The ANZ Business Confidence slid from 21.7 in January to 16.6 in February. The main contributor to the drop was the agricultural sector, while “for the rest of the economy it looked very much business as usual.” The poor report, coupled with the risk-averse market sentiment, led to the decline of the New Zealand currency, though the losses were limited.
NZD/USD traded at about 0.7197 as of 11:13 GMT today after opening at 0.7189 and falling to the daily low of 0.7175. NZD/JPY declined from 81.02 to 80.70. EUR/NZD gained from 1.4705 to 1.4732.
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