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The New Zealand bonds gained at the time of closing Wednesday as investors largely shrugged off the upbeat reading of the GlobalDairyTrade price auction, held later yesterday. Also, the country’s fall in Q1 unemployment rate failed to distract investors away from safe-haven assets
At the time of closing, the yield on the benchmark 10-year bond, which moves inversely to its price, slumped 1 basis point to 2.99 percent, the yield on 7-year note also slipped 1 basis point to 2.66 percent while the yield on short-term 2-year note too trade 1 basis point lower at 2.06 percent.
Positive momentum in dairy prices continued to build in last night’s GlobalDairyTrade auction, with the aggregate price index rising 3.6 percent. That’s the fourth consecutive gain, and takes prices to the highest level since early February.
While demand from China has remained solid and this is helping to put a floor under prices, dairy prices seem to be responding to concerns about New Zealand supply off the back of recent poor weather. European production has turned in recent months and is expected to trend higher over the remainder of this year as farmers respond to higher farmgate prices.
Lastly, the unemployment rate fell to 4.9 percent in the March quarter, a lower level than analysts had expected. The larger than expected drop in unemployment reflected stronger than expected jobs growth, with the number of people in employment rising by 29,000 over the quarter. Jobs growth in March offset the continued increase in the size of the labour force and associated climb in the participation rate (which hit a fresh record level).
Meanwhile, the New Zealand’s benchmark S&P/NZX 50 Index closed 0.22 percent lower at 7,405.84, while at 06:00GMT the FxWirePro's Hourly NZD Strength Index remained neutral at 38.94 (a reading above +75 indicates a bullish trend, while that below -75 a bearish trend). For more details, visit http://www.fxwirepro.com/currencyindex
