The New Zealand dollar rallied today after falling earlier. Surprisingly, the rally started after the release of disappointing macroeconomic reports in China — New Zealand’s biggest trading partner. Domestic macroeconomic data, which was not that great as well, had smaller impact on the currency. Yet it was also puzzling, driving the kiwi slightly higher, not lower.
The US dollar was weak in the first half of Wednesday’s trading session but reversed losses versus some currencies later, erasing them against others outright. Slight miss of inflation print did not prevent the rebound. In fact, the greenback climbed after the worse-than-expected data.
The British pound today traded in an erratic manner against the US dollar as it rallied higher in the Asian session, before falling, and then spiking higher on Brexit rumors. The GBP/USD currency pair was not done with its sudden moves as it quickly retraced all its gains and headed lower in the American session as the greenback recovered.
The Swiss franc experienced a “flash crash” today, falling sharply at the start of the trading session but reversing losses almost immediately afterwards. The worse-than-expected drop of the Swiss Consumer Price Index had limited impact on the currency.
The euro was trading mixed today, falling against some majors, including the US dollar and the Great Britain pound, but rising versus safe haven currencies. Macroeconomic data in the eurozone was mostly poor and put downward pressure on the currency.
The euro today traded in a tight range against the US dollar during the Asian session as market risk sentiment subsided on weak Chinese Caixin manufacturing PMI data. The EUR/USD currency pair remained range bound as several PMI prints from across the eurozone were released by IHS Markit before rallying higher on upbeat eurozone inflation data.
The Australian dollar rallied today against most-traded peers thanks to the inflation print that came out slightly above expectations.
The euro today traded in a tight range amid subdued market activity as investors waited patiently for the FOMC rate decision scheduled for later today. The release of mixed data from across the eurozone had minimal impact on the EUR/USD currency pair, which continued to trade above the crucial 1.1400 level.
The Japanese yen rose a bit during Monday’s quiet trading. With no major events or macroeconomic releases, markets were rather directionless today, though the rest of the week promises to be much more eventful.
The Japanese yen fell today, demonstrating the weakest performance among the major currencies, despite the better-then-expected inflation report. Analysts blamed the risk-on market sentiment for the decline.
