New Zealand Dollar Gains on Asian Stocks & Trade Surplus

The New Zealand dollar advanced today, rising versus 15 of 16 most-traded currencies, as the nation’s traded balance unexpectedly posted a surplus in January and as the Asian stocks gained.

The New Zealand traded balance had a massive deficit of NZ$264 million in December and analysts predicted the deficit to shrink to NZ$25 million in January. The report yesterday was better than even those optimistic forecasts as it showed the surplus of NZ$11 million last month, the first surplus in seven months. The MSCI Asia Pacific Index gained 0.6 percent, rising for the second day, after it fell 0.5 percent earlier.

NZD/USD traded at 0.7515 as of 11:37 GMT today after it opened at 0.7509 and jumped to 0.7553. NZD/JPY advanced from 61.32 to 61.50 after reaching the intraday high of 61.65.

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