New Zealand dollar rises as cigarette prices push March inflation higher

The New Zealand dollar rose slightly after the country released inflation numbers for the first quarter. The numbers showed that higher cigarette and rent prices pushed the annual inflation to 2.5% from the previous 1.9%. This number was higher than the 2.1% that traders were expecting. The headline CPI rose by 0.8% on a QoQ basis. These numbers come at a time when the country is considering lifting the coronavirus restrictions.

The Japanese yen weakened slightly against the USD as investors reacted to the weak trade numbers. According to the Ministry of Finance, weak demand from the United States led to an 11.7% decline of the country’s exports. This was the 16th consecutive month of falling exports from the country. Imports too declined by 5.0% in March, which was lower than the expected decline of 9.8%. As a result, the country’s trade surplus declined by more than 90% to 4.9 billion yen. Analysts expect the April numbers will be worse because the country is currently in a state of emergency.

US futures declined in early trading ahead of a busy earnings week. The Dow Jones and Nasdaq futures declined by about 30 basis points. Today, we will receive first quarter earnings data from IBM, Equifax, Prudential, Legal & General, and Halliburton among others. These results will come a week after we received weak bank earnings. Later in the week, we will receive earnings from companies like Netflix, Vivendi, Adyen, BHP Billiton, and Alphabet. Meanwhile, in Asia-Pacific, the Nikkei dropped by 1.27% while Australia’s ASX dropped by more than 82 basis points.

EUR/USD

The EUR/USD pair was little changed during the Asian session. The pair is trading at 1.0860, which is slightly below Friday’s high of 1.0892. The pair is along the 28-day and 14-day exponential moving averages while the RSI has held steady at around 50. The price is also slightly above the 23.6% Fibonacci Retracement level. The pair may continue moving lower and test the 23.6% retracement level of 1.0850.

AUD/USD

The AUD/USD pair was little changed today and is trading at 0.6345, which is above last week’s low price of 0.6263. The price is also lower than last week’s high of 0.6445. On the hourly chart, the current price has consolidated along the 100-day and 25-day exponential moving averages. The price is slightly along the 61.8% Fibonacci Retracement level. It has also formed a symmetrical triangle pattern. Therefore, the pair may breakout in either direction today.

NZD/USD

The NZD/USD pair rose slightly as investors reacted to New Zealand’s CPI. The pair rose to a high of 0.6022, which was slightly above the day’s low of 0.6000. The price is along the 50% Fibonacci Retracement level on the hourly chart. It is also slightly above the 25-day and 14-day exponential moving averages. Therefore, the pair may continue rising as New Zealand starts to ease coronavirus lockdown.