HiFX Morning Update, June 22 2017

The NZDUSD opens at 0.7225 (mid-rate) this morning.

A further fall in oil prices despite a sharp drop in U.S. oil stockpiles has seen the NZD along with other commodity-linked currencies underperform against the majors.

Overnight US crude oil inventories declined by 2.5 million barrels in the week to June 16, the fall in stockpiles was far greater than analysts’ expectations of a 1.2 million barrel decrease. Despite the data crude oil prices are now at a 10 moth low as U.S. oil companies continue adding rigs and Libya boosts output, blunting OPEC-led efforts to re-balance an oversupplied market.

Overnight existing home sales in the US unexpectedly rose during the month of May with the National Association of Realtors report showing existing home sales rose by 1.1% to an annual rate of 5.62M in May after plummeting by 2.5% to a downwardly revised 5.56M in April. Economists had predicted home sales to fall to an annual rate of 5.54M in May from the previously reported 5.57M in April.

The GBP has rallied overnight after Bank of England (BoE) Chief Economist Andrew Haldane was quoted as saying the central bank “should normalize monetary policy well ahead of current market expectations”, and that it “would be prudent” to remove the record-low interest rate in the second-half of 2017. The comments suggest there is a growing rift within the BOE with BOE Gov Mark Carney still in no hurry to move away from the highly accommodative policy stance.

This morning the RBNZ are expected to leave the OCR unchanged at 1.75%, with the tone of the accompanying statement likely to dictate direction for the NZD going forward.

Global equity markets are broadly lower - Dow -0.23%, S&P 500 -0.06%, FTSE -0.33%, DAX -0.32%, CAC -0.37%, Nikkei -0.45%, Shanghai +0.52%

Gold prices have edged higher currently up 0.2% at $1,246 an ounce. .WTI Crude Oil have continued to slide, currently down 0.4% at $42.68 a barrel.

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