Kiwi Rises Along Most Commodity-Tied Currencies

The kiwi caught a bid Thursday along its commodity-tied peers, save for the AUD, which benefitted from better oil prices. NZD/USD advanced as the greenback landed at the bottom of the G10 pile, pressured by a combination of lacklustre appetite for safe haven currencies and speculation that the Fed could start tapering later than previously expected, which was partly fuelled by below-forecast advance Q2 GDP data out of the U.S.

• ANZ Consumer Confidence gauge fell to 113.1 this month from 114.1 a month before, but remained comfortably above pre-Covid levels. According to the accompanying commentary, "households' confidence about buying major items continues to lift," which "likely reflects wealth effects from the housing boom for those lucky enough to own a house, as well as excellent job security in an exceptionally tight labour market."
• This comes after ANZ data released yesterday showed that business confidence eased this month, but "pricing intentions remained extremely high, and inflation expectations continued to lift."
• New Zealand's building permits will hit the wires later today. Focus next week turns to CoreLogic House Price Index (Tuesday) & labour market report (Wednesday).
• NZD/USD trades at $0.7016 at typing, 6 pips higher on the day. Further gains past Jul 15 high of $0.7045 would bring Jul 7 high of $0.7061 into play. Conversely, bears see Jul 28 low of $0.6902 as their initial target and a break here would expose Jul 20 cycle low of $0.6881.