NZ Dollar Rebounds After Strong China PMI Data

(RTTNews) - The New Zealand dollar rebounded from recent lows against other major currencies in the Asian session on Wednesday, after data showed that China's service sector continued to expand in March.

Data from S&P Global showed that the Caixin service sector Purchasing Managers' Index rose to 52.7 in March, in line with expectations, from 52.5 in February.

The survey showed that overall private sector activity growth was the strongest since May 2023. The composite output index advanced to 52.7 in March from 52.5 a month ago.

In economic news, the Global Dairy Trade index has rebounded in the Tuesday's auction, following two straight trading price drops in the previous trading events.

Cheddar cheese made the biggest gain, up 4.1% to $4,340 per metric ton or $1.96 per pound.

There were 108 winning bidders out of 168 participants in the auction. A total of 18,737 metric tons of dairy products were sold in 21 rounds of bidding.

In the Asian trading today, the NZ dollar rose to 2-day highs of 0.5978 against the U.S. dollar and 90.59 against the yen, from early lows of 0.5953 and 90.23, respectively. If the kiwi extends its uptrend, it is likely to find resistance around 0.60 against the greenback and 93.00 against the yen,

Against the Australian dollar and the euro, the kiwi edged up to 1.0907 and 1.8030 from recent 2-day lows of 1.0931 and 1.8089, respectively. The kiwi may test resistance near 1.07 against the aussie and 1.78 against the euro.

Looking ahead, Eurostat is scheduled to issue euro area flash inflation for March and unemployment figures for February, at 5:00 am ET in the European session.

At 5:15 am ET, OPEC+ meeting is due to be held, at which the group is expected to affirm current supply cuts.

In the New York session, U.S. MBA mortgage approvals data, U.S. and Canada PMI reports for March, U.S. EIA crude oil data and U.S. ADP employment data for March are slated for release.

At 9:45 am ET, Federal Reserve Board Governor Michelle Bowman will speak on "Bank Liquidity, Regulation, and the Fed's Role as Lender of Last Resort" before the Committee on Capital Markets Regulation Roundtable on Lender of Last Resort, in Washington D.C., U.S.

At 12:00 pm ET, Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago President Austan Goolsbee will give opening remarks before virtual Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago event, "Preventing Elder Financial Exploitation: Research, Policies, and Strategies,", in Chicago, U.S.

At 12:10 pm ET, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell is scheduled to speak on the economic outlook before the Stanford Business, Government and Society Forum at the Stanford Graduate School of Business, in Stanford, U.S.

One hour later, Federal Reserve Vice Chair for Supervision Michael Barr participates in "Community Reinvestment Act" discussion before the National Community Reinvestment Coalition "Just Economy Conference 2024.", in Washington D.C., U.S.

At 4:30 pm ET, Federal Reserve Board Governor Adriana Kugler will speak on "The Outlook of the U.S. Economy and Monetary Policy" before a conversation hosted by the Washington University in St. Louis, U.S.