NZD On Top In Early Trade

While most markets return after holiday's yesterday, a few closures including Indonesia and the opportunity for a long weekend are likely to keep liquidity thin. The greenback is slightly higher after finishing flat on Thursday, earlier Fed's Bullard says it's a judgement call on whether inflation is transitory, a departure from previous Fed comments.

• NZD is the winner so far, NZD/USD up 4 pips. PM Ardern delivered a pre-budget speech Thursday. She promised efforts to deepen New Zealand's trade relationship with the U.S. and outlined plans of official delegations' visits to Australia, EU and UK. Elsewhere April manufacturing PMI came in at 58.4, down from 63.6 previously. AUD is lower, down 9 pips hampered by lower iron ore prices.
• JPY is slightly softer USD/JPY shedding around 7 pips. There were reports of a 6.2 magnitude earthquake near Fukushima but not tsunami warning was issued. Data earlier shows Japan's April money stock rose 9.2% Y/Y
• CNH is weaker, giving back yesterday's gains after snapping a three-day losing streak. There will likely be some focus on Chinese equity markets today after the sell off yesterday took them into technical correction territory. Equity markets in the US rose on Thursday.