Local Data Fail To Move Kiwi

NZD/USD took a nosedive Thursday as a negative lead from the equity space undermined risk appetite, while the greenback garnered some strength post-ECB MonPol decision. The pair is headed for a weekly loss, having weakened on each consecutive day since last Friday.

• A slew of second-tier local data releases have failed to impress the kiwi this morning.
  • New Zealand's m'fing activity grew 1.2% Q/Q in the three months through end-March, but higher inflation masked a 3.5% Q/Q decline in volume.
  • Growth in retail card spending slowed to +1.9% M/M in May from +7.1% prior. StatsNZ noted that "fuel spending partly contributed to the May month’s increase, up NZ$51 million (8.9%) from the previous month."
  • Seasonally adjusted filled jobs data for Q1 were "almost unchanged" from the preceding quarter, StatsNZ said, as "the arrival of Omicron in combination with a tight labour market may have helped slow some of the recent jobs growth."
• Looking further afield, focus turns to New Zealand's BoP current account balance (Wednesday), GDP (Thursday) & BusinessNZ M'fing PMI (Friday).
• NZD/USD trades flat at $0.6385 at typing. From a technical standpoint, the next layer of support is provided by May 18 low of $0.6291. Conversely, a rebound above Jun 3 high of $0.6576 would reinstate the recovery trend.