Currency Alerts
11/4/2009 9:57 PM ET
(RTTNews) -
The New Zealand dollar declined against its major opponents on Thursday morning in Asia after the Statistics New Zealand report showed that the nation's jobless rate rose to its highest level in more than nine years. The kiwi slumped to a new 3-month low against its Australian counterpart.
New Zealand's unemployment rate rose in the September quarter to 6.5 percent- the most since the first quarter of 2000, according to a report issued today by Statistics New Zealand. The figure compares to a rate of 6.0 percent in the June quarter.
The report showed that the number of unemployed people increased in seasonally adjusted terms by 12,000 to 150,000. It was the highest number of unemployed New Zealanders since the March 1994 quarter, whereas, the number of employed people fell by 17,000 in the third quarter.
The New Zealand dollar reached 1.2641 against the Australian dollar around 7:45 pm ET, the lowest level since August 4. The aussie-kiwi pair that closed Wednesday's North American deals at 1.2578 is currently quoted at 1.2618.
The aussie edged higher today following the report showed that Australia's trade deficit narrowed in September.
Australia saw a trade deficit of A$1.85 billion in September, the Australian Bureau of Statistics said today. That beat forecasts for a A$2.15 billion shortfall after the A$1.524 billion deficit in August.
Imports were up 5 percent on month to A$22.06 billion from A$20.98 in August. Exports also rose 5 percent on month, to A$20.21 billion from A$19.33 billion in the previous month.
Against the Japanese yen, the New Zealand currency declined more than 2.15 percent to 65.07 around 8:40 pm ET from yesterday's 5-day high of 66.5. On the downside, the immediate support is seen around the 64.6 level for the kiwi. The kiwi-yen pair was worth 65.76 at Wednesday's North American close.
The yen ticked higher following the release of the minutes of the Bank of Japan's October meeting. The Bank of Japan's monetary policy board members believed that there remains a degree of upside risk to the recovery of the emerging economies from the global slowdown, the minutes showed.
With that in mind, the minutes also indicated that the bank needs to continue to maintain the current accommodative conditions - while also making sure the markets are aware of that stance. A downtrend in process is expected to continue in the near term, the bank added.
The BoJ unanimously decided to maintain the uncollateralized overnight call rate at 0.1 percent. The last change in the rate was a 0.1 percent cut in interest rates at the December 2008 meeting.
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