NZ Dollar Weakest Despite Strong Economic Data

The New Zealand dollar was extremely weak today despite positive domestic macroeconomic data. In fact, the kiwi fell against all of its most-traded rivals. Furthermore, the New Zealand currency was one of the weakest for the week.
The BusinessNZ Performance of Manufacturing Index demonstrated a sharp rally in January, jumping from 48.3 to 57.5. With the index climbing above the neutral 50.0 level, it now shows that the sector turned from contraction to expansion. BNZ Senior Economist Craig Ebert had the following to say about the result:

The 3-month average to January was 53.6, slightly above the long-term norm of 53.0. Also, January’s improvement was encouraging in its composition, with New Orders leading the way.

Statistics New Zealand reported that food prices rose by 1.3% in January, not seasonally adjusted. Non-alcoholic beverage prices were leading the rally, rising by 2.5%, though all other components of the index showed positive results as well. But with seasonal adjustment, the index was flat.
Trading today and the next week is expected to be lighter than usual due to the Lunar New Year holiday in China. New Zealand is not going to release many macroeconomic reports next week either, with the Producer Price Index scheduled to come out at the end of the week being perhaps the only notable release.
NZD/USD dropped from 0.7226 to 0.7188 as of 10:02 GMT today. EUR/NZD jumped from 1.6778 to 1.6842. NZD/JPY rose from 104.74 to 105.03, touching the high of 105.18 intraday.
If you have any questions, comments, or opinions regarding the New Zealand Dollar, feel free to post them using the commentary form below.

Original from: www.earnforex.com