UK Retail Sales Data Exceeds Economic Forecasts, Sends Sterling on Major Bull Run vs New Zealand Dollar on FX Markets
The British pound has been in close contention against the New Zealand dollar today, due to profit-taking.
The GBP/NZD exchange rate has managed to remain in a positive range today, though these gains are a shadow of earlier trendings.
The ‘Kiwi’ could rise against the Pound tonight, if NZ net migration in April increases significantly.
Demand for commodity-related currencies such as the New Zealand dollar (NZD) exchange rate was also weakened on Thursday morning by the swift market response to the latest Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting minutes.
As policymakers were found to have been more hawkish than anticipated, strongly raising the possibility of a June interest rate, the odds of further easing from the Reserve Bank of New Zealand (RBNZ) were seen to increase.
The appeal of the Pound Sterling has risen prodigiously today, on account of the national retail sales results for April exceeding forecasts in all applicable fields. This represents a continuation of yesterday’s impressive Pound performance.
Forecasts had been mostly optimistic to start with, but one of the best outcomes came for the retail sales figure including fuel on the year, which had been predicted to fall up rose above negative expectations instead.
Although Tuesday’s inflation rate stats were universally disappointing, it appears that today’s data has made up for it; the fact that Sterling began appreciating before the stats were announced suggests that a number of investors had priced in this rise to their forecasts.
Latest New Zealand/Australian Dollar Exchange Rates
On Wednesday the Pound to British Pound exchange rate (GBP/GBP) converts at 1
Today finds the pound to pound spot exchange rate priced at 1.
The live inter-bank GBP-USD spot rate is quoted as 1.244 today.
The live inter-bank GBP-AUD spot rate is quoted as 1.911 today.
Please note: the FX rates above, updated 24th Apr 2024, will have a commission applied by your typical high street bank. Currency brokers specialise in these type of foreign currency transactions and can save you up to 5% on international payments compared to the banks.
Other Currency Exchange News
Pound to NZ Dollar Forecast: CBI Data due for UK Tomorrow, Borrowing and GDP Stats Out Next Week
The next UK economic announcements to watch out for are due tomorrow, in the form of the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) trends for total orders and selling prices in May.
Following on from this in the week to come, the first UK ecostats to watch out for will be Tuesday’s public sector net borrowing result for April, as well as further CBI trade data.
The biggest announcement of the coming week is likely to come on Thursday, when the Q1 second estimate for the GDP growth rate is due to come out on the quarter and the year.
New Zealand Dollar Steady as Jobs Stats Conflict with Confidence Score
The ‘Kiwi’ has been relatively stable against all peers barring the Pound today, likely as a result of the most recent national economic announcements.
On the negative side, the recent ANZ consumer confidence index for May has dropped from 120 points to 116.2, equating to a reduction of -3.2%.
More supportively, however, the ANZ job advertisements printing for April has shown a 1.7% increase, although this is a slowdown compared to the previous 3.1% result.
New Zealand Dollar Exchange Rates: Trading Data due Next Week and Week After for NZ
The near-future is not expected to bring a large amount of NZD exchange rate movement, given that incoming data is both low impact and considerably spaced out.
The last remaining data this week will be tonight’s annual visitor arrivals result on the year for April, while next Tuesday will see the only NZ data released in the form of the trade balance and export/import data for April.
In the week transitioning into June, the ANZ business confidence result for May is due alongside the April building permits stats and further trade data for the first quarter.
BCC Economist Warns of UK Economic Imbalance despite Positive Sales Stats
While the Pound’s positive exchange rate today clearly shows that investors are responding favourably to the latest retail sales data, a British Chambers of Commerce economist has offered a more cautious evaluation of the news.
David Kern, Chief Economist at the BCC, has said:
‘After the disappointing decline in March, the strong retail sales recovery in April supports our view that in spite of major headwinds the UK economy continues to grow, albeit at a slowing pace. However, the…problems facing other sectors such as manufacturing highlights the unbalanced nature of Britain's recovery’.