HiFX Morning Update, February 27 2018

HiFX Morning Update, February 27 2018

The NZDUSD opens at 0.7305 (mid-rate) this morning.

The NZD is the best performer of the G10 currencies in the past 24 hours albeit with some modest gains. The NZDUSD has traded a 68 point or 0.93% range and opens above the 0.7300 support. The Kiwi today looks to start with a softer tone and to trend to the lower end of the channel range at 0.7250.

UK Card spending was 5.8% higher than in January 2017, although higher repayment levels meant that the pace of borrowing saw little change, growing at 4.8% annually.

UK Gross mortgage lending in January is estimated to have been £13.8bn, 7.7 % more than a year earlier and slightly above the monthly average of £21.4bn for 2017.

UK businesses' deposits grew by 7% in the past 12 months, while borrowing over the same period contracted slightly by 1.4 %. Within business sectors, manufacturers' borrowing expanded modestly, while construction and property-related sectors contracted.

ECB President Draghi spoke at a hearing of the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs of the European Parliament. He discussed the Euro Area inflation outlook and the main factors impacting the relationship between growth and inflation. The EUR fell initially but has since regained any lost ground to open just above the 1.2300 near term support.

U.S. sales of new homes unexpectedly fell in January to the lowest level since August as borrowing costs rose and winter weather depressed demand, according to government data released Monday. New Home Sales - Sales of new single-family houses in January 2018 were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 593,000, according to estimates released worse than the 655k expected.

Global equity markets are broadly higher: Dow +1.33%, S&P 500 +0.91%, FTSE +0.62%, DAX +0.35%, CAC +0.51%, Nikkei +1.19%, Shanghai +1.23%.

Gold prices are up 0.3% trading at $1,332 an ounce. WTI Crude Oil prices have continued higher up 0.5% trading at $64.04 a barrel.

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