New Zealand Dollar Talking Points:
- New Zealand’s January trade balance read -914 million NZD versus an expected deficit of -300 million
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The New Zealand Dollar traded lower against its United States counterpart late Tuesday as disappointing trade data crossed the wires. New Zealand’s January trade balance was a deficit of -914 million NZD, notably higher than the expected deficit of -300 million. Compared to the month prior, New Zealand’s trade deficit increased by more than 1 billion New Zealand Dollars.
New Zealand Dollar Price Chart: 1-Minute Time Frame (February 26) (Chart 1)
The country’s year-to-date trade balance totaled -6.358 billion NZD versus the expected -5.496 billion and -5.858 billion to December. Imports again surpassed exports in January, contributing further to the deficit. January imports read 5.32 billion NZD the country notched 4.4 billion in exports. The New Zealand Dollar traded lower on the news, but subsequently mounted a rebound to steady off near 0.6891.
NZDUSD Price Chart: 4-Hour Time Frame (December 2018 - February 2019) (Chart 2)
As for the broader NZDUSD picture, the trade data seemingly did little to alter the landscape at first glance. While off session highs, the pair is still comfortably within the wedge it has formed in the past few months. Should Kiwi strength continue, the next area of resistance appears to be in the 0.6930 area at the top of the wedge.
Check back here for updates as the story develops…
--Written by Peter Hanks, Junior Analyst for DailyFX.com
Contact and follow Peter on Twitter @PeterHanksFX
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