Related News:
Australia, New Zealand Dollars Set for Weekly Gain on Stocks, Commodities
Australia’s dollar fell from a three-week high against its U.S. counterpart after a government report showed the nation’s trade surplus shrank in July more than economist forecast.
New Zealand’s dollar reached a two-week high against the greenback after Auckland-based Fonterra Cooperative Group Ltd. said milk powder prices increased for the first time since April. Fonterra is the world’s largest dairy exporter. The currency, nicknamed the kiwi, gained against most of its 16 major counterparts, while the Australian dollar fell against most of them.
Australia’s trade surplus “was clearly down and was almost half of what the market was expecting,” said Sue Trinh, a senior currency strategist in Hong Kong at Royal Bank of Canada’s RBC Capital Markets. “The Aussie dollar is down.”
The Australian currency fell as much as 0.7 percent to 90.55 U.S. cents before trading at 91.09 cents, down 0.1 percent, at 12:16 p.m. in New York. It closed yesterday at 91.17 cents, the strongest level since Aug. 11. The Aussie dropped 0.4 percent to 76.70 yen, from 76.99 yesterday.
New Zealand’s dollar rose 0.4 percent to 71.48 U.S. cents, from 71.20 cents. It touched 71.78 cents, the highest level since Aug. 18. The kiwi rose 0.1 percent to 60.20 yen, from 60.12 yen.
Australia’s currency weakened after the Bureau of Statistics said the trade surplus fell to A$1.89 billion ($1.7 billion) in July, from a revised A$3.44 billion in June. Economists surveyed by Bloomberg forecast a A$3.1 billion surplus. The report also showed the nation’s exports declined for the first time since February, dropping 4 percent to A$25.4 billion.
New Zealand’s dollar snapped a two-day decline against Australia’s currency after Fonterra said today that whole milk powder for November delivery rose to an average price of $3,624 a metric ton.
To contact the reporters on this story: Yoshiaki Nohara in Tokyo at ynohara1@bloomberg.net; Catarina Saraiva in New York at asaraiva5@bloomberg.net
Rate These Stories
Rate this Page