The New Zealand dollar gained against most of its major peers today. While the kiwi has lost gains versus its US counterpart by now, it was still trading higher against other peers. Market analysts attributed the rally to the positive consumer inflation print, though some of them argued that the data is not as good as might seem at first glance.
Statistics New Zealand reported that the Consumer Price Index rose 0.6% in the June quarter of this year from the previous three months, matching forecasts, after increasing just 0.1% in the preceding quarter. Year-on-year, the CPI rose 1.7%, up from 1.5% in the previous quarter. Prices were rising across all sectors, with household contents and services registering the biggest gain (2.5%).
Yet some analysts were not impressed with the data. They pointed out that the biggest contributor to inflation was petrol, with prices rising 5.8%, which was likely just a temporary spike. Additionally, the consumer inflation remains below the 2% mid-point of the central bank’s 1%-3% target range.
NZD/USD opened at 0.6717, rallied to 0.6738 intraday, but retreated to 0.6714 by 13:24 GMT today. EUR/NZD dropped from 1.6748 to 1.6701. NZD/JPY gained from 72.47 to 72.66.
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NZ Dollar Rises on In-Line CPI, Loses Gains vs. US Dollar
