NZ Dollar Jumps with Manufacturing & Consumer Confidence

The New Zealand dollar rose as the expanding manufacturing sector and improving consumer confidence lead to speculations that the nation’s central bank will keep interest rates stable.

The BNZ-BusinessNZ seasonally adjusted PMI rose 4.8 points from December to 55.2 in January. It was the highest reading since May. The ANZ-Roy Morgan Consumer Confidence measure climbed 2.7 points to 121 in February, reaching the 32-month high.

The New Zealand economy was showing signs of strength previously, so the positive data was not completely unexpected. Yet its extent surprised market participants to some degree.

NZD/USD climbed from 0.8451 to 0.8466 as of 6:16 GMT today, touching 0.8490 intraday — the strongest price since September 2011. NZD/JPY went up from 78.93 to 79.19.

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