The United States Dollar Versus The World - Getting Bang for Your Buck

The New Zealand dollar and Australian dollar are seeing record highs at Wednesday’s closing versus the United States dollar.

After unemployment rates bottomed to less than 4%, a 33-year low, the Aussie reached a point it had not been to in 17 years.  It closed yesterday up 0.5% to 0.8444 against the dollar and 0.6 per cent to Y102.46 against the yen.  This raised much speculation that Australian interest rates will be raised in the near future. 

Reserve Bank of New Zealand, its central bank, surprisingly raised interest rates yesterday from 7.75 to 8%, the highest rate since induction in 1999, in order to limit inflation.  Inflation was hovering around the 4% mark, while the government wanted that rate between 1-3%.  As the market closed, the kiwi rose 0.7 per cent to $0.7555 against the dollar, reaching 22-year highs, and 0.9 per cent to Y91.63 against the yen. 

As the kiwi, as termed by New Zealand’s locals, and Aussie were hitting new heights, the dollar held its ground against the euro, yen, and pound, respectively.  The dollar advanced, rising 0.3 per cent to $1.3465 against the euro, 0.3 per cent to Y121.40 against the yen and 0.6 per cent to SFr1.2235 against the Swiss franc.

Although the dollar was successful yesterday against the euro, yen, and pound, it is still below value against many of the other popular and heavily traded currencies in the forex market.  For more coverage of the forex market and recent currency trading news, check out dailyfx.