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The Kiwi strengthened against the US Dollar on New Zealand's retail sales data on Thursday. The NZD/USD currency pair initially rose 0.17%, or 12 base points, to 0.7343, but soon after that it came down to the 0.7320 area.
Statistics New Zealand stated that the country's retail sales growth stepped up the game by gaining 1.7% in the December quarter, following an upwardly-revised 0.3% growth recorded in the prior period. The report showed that retail sales volumes soared mostly on the back of an increase in spending on food and beverages, supermarket shopping and cars. Westpac's Senior Economist Satish Ranchhod said that growth in spending will continue its steady pace in the early 2018.
| Historical Data Table: NZD Retail Sales q/q | Economic Calendar for Feb 26.02.2018 | ||||||||
| Date | 16.02.2017 | 14.05.2017 | 13.08.2017 | 22.11.2017 | 22.02.2018 | 2:00 PM | ECB President Draghi Speaks | ||
| Actual | 0.60% | 1.50% | 2.00% | 0.30% | 1.70% | 3:00 PM | US New Home Sales | ||
| Forecast | 1.10% | 1.10% | 0.70% | 0.40% | 1.40% | 9:45 PM | NZD Trade Balance | ||
| Initial Reaction on Main Pairs | SWFX Sentiment Indexes | ||||||||
| Open Price | Close Price | % Change | Longs | Shorts | |||||
| AUD/NZD | 1.06988 | 1.06845 | -0.13% | AUD/NZD | 25.50% | 74.50% | |||
| EUR/NZD | 1.68174 | 1.6795 | -0.13% | EUR/NZD | 33.75% | 66.25% | |||
| GBP/NZD | 1.90566 | 1.90131 | -0.23% | GBP/NZD | 61.14% | 38.86% | |||
| NZD/USD | 0.7331 | 0.73431 | 0.17% | NZD/USD | 38.61% | 61.39% | |||