The USD is a little firmer in early...........>

FOREX: The USD is a little firmer in early Asia-Pacific dealing.

- The DXY briefly topped 90 in NY hours, and last sits at 89.85.

- The NZD is the laggard on the day thus far after a surprise January trade

deficit.

- Westpac note that "New Zealand's unusually large trade surplus in December was

followed by an unusually large deficit in January. The pullback in exports for

the month was unsurprising, although larger than we had assumed. However,

imports have remained surprisingly strong in recent months."

- The NZDUSD last trades at 0.7290, while AUDNZD last trades around 1.0760.

- For NZDUSD bears will take comfort from the soft trade data and the aggressive

sell-off on Friday which lead to closes below the 21-DMA, and now need a close

below $0.7269 to confirm a break of the bull channel base and shift focus back

to $0.7130-0.7211 where 55 & 200-DMAs are situated. Bulls now need a close above

the $0.7345 to gain breathing room.