NZD/USD refreshes six-month low near 0.5700 despite receding US-China trade tensions

New Zealand Dollar Price Today

The table below shows the percentage change of New Zealand Dollar (NZD) against listed major currencies today. New Zealand Dollar was the weakest against the Japanese Yen.

	USD	EUR	GBP	JPY	CAD	AUD	NZD	CHF
USD		-0.11%	-0.04%	-0.21%	0.05%	0.59%	0.42%	-0.11%
EUR	0.11%		0.06%	-0.11%	0.15%	0.74%	0.53%	0.00%
GBP	0.04%	-0.06%		-0.16%	0.10%	0.67%	0.50%	-0.06%
JPY	0.21%	0.11%	0.16%		0.25%	0.78%	0.59%	0.05%
CAD	-0.05%	-0.15%	-0.10%	-0.25%		0.58%	0.37%	-0.16%
AUD	-0.59%	-0.74%	-0.67%	-0.78%	-0.58%		-0.21%	-0.74%
NZD	-0.42%	-0.53%	-0.50%	-0.59%	-0.37%	0.21%		-0.53%
CHF	0.11%	-0.00%	0.06%	-0.05%	0.16%	0.74%	0.53%

The heat map shows percentage changes of major currencies against each other. The base currency is picked from the left column, while the quote currency is picked from the top row. For example, if you pick the New Zealand Dollar from the left column and move along the horizontal line to the US Dollar, the percentage change displayed in the box will represent NZD (base)/USD (quote).

The scenario of receding trade tensions between the US and China is favorable for the New Zealand Dollar (NZD), given that the New Zealand (NZ) economy relies heavily on its exports to Beijing.

The major downside factor for the Kiwi dollar is growing acceptance among market participants that the Reserve Bank of New Zealand (RBNZ) will cut interest rates again this year.

Last week, the RBNZ surprisingly reduced its Official Cash Rate (OCR) by 50 basis points (bps) to 2.5%, which showed officials are concerned over the economic outlook.

Meanwhile, the US Dollar (USD) trades subduedly as investors await the speech from Federal Reserve (Fed) Chair Jerome Powell at 16:20 GMT. Financial market participants will pay close attention to Powell’s speech to get cues about how much the Fed will cut interest rates further this year.

According to the CME FedWatch tool, traders see a 94% that the Fed will reduce interest rates by 50 basis points (bps) to 3.50%-3.75% in the remaining year.

Economic Indicator

Fed's Chair Powell speech

Jerome H. Powell took office as a member of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System on May 25, 2012, to fill an unexpired term. On November 2, 2017, President Donald Trump nominated Powell to serve as the next Chairman of the Federal Reserve. Powell assumed office as Chair on February 5, 2018.