NZD

In a strange reflection of the global trends afoot, the NZD/USD climbed to 27-month highs overnight, but still took out the title of the weakest performing currency over the past 24 hours.

The USD continues to be sold and risk appetite continues to firm. Financial markets were buoyed today by a raft of positives in the last 12 hours. Stronger than expected Japanese machinery orders and China new loans buoyed risk early.

News and views

Fitch Ratings has today affirmed New Zealand's (NZ) foreign currency Long-term Issuer Default Rating (IDR) at 'AA+', local currency Long-term IDR at 'AAA', foreign currency Short-term rating at 'F1+' and the Country Ceiling at 'AAA'. The Outlook on the ratings is Negative.

NZD

A modest bounce-back in USD sentiment knocked some of the steam out of NZD/USD overnight. But, stepping back from the noise, the NZD/USD pretty much just consolidated in the familiar 0.7300-0.7400 range, as it has for most of this week.

The NZD/USD has spent most of the past 24 hours consolidating in a relatively tight 0.7330-0.7370 range. Currency markets barely stirred overnight.

* Record surplus on trade in goods, thanks to strong export commodity prices. * Foreign owners of NZ assets realised more profit and paid less withholding tax. * History of current account deficit revised sharply, NZ's savings problem now looks slightly less severe.

Overview

New Zealand tech company Areo is set to unveil a revolutionary new 3D scanning service that promises to slash production times and save customers tens of thousands of dollars.

The web-based service, Areoscan.com, will be launched by the Dunedin-based company on Wednesday September 8.

NZD: Considering the magnitude of the disaster, news of Saturday morning's monster Christchurch earthquake had only a relatively minor effect on the currency. In fact, the NZD/USD closed last week just a smidge below 3 week highs of 0.7220.