NZ Dollar Extends Rise Amid Risk Appetite

The New Zealand dollar continued to be strong against the other major currencies in the Asian session on Thursday, as Asian stocks rose on growing ECB stimulus bets that the European Central Bank is mulling various options to ease monetary policy further even before the U.S. Federal Reserve looks set to raise interest rates.

Geopolitical worries also eased after U.S. President Barack Obama and the NATO military alliance supported Turkey's right to defend its sovereignty and stressed about the need to de-escalate tensions.

In other economic news, data from Statistics New Zealand showed that New Zealand posted a merchandise trade deficit of NZ$963 million in October, representing 25 percent of exports. The headline figure exceeded expectations for a shortfall of NZ$1.00 billion and was up from the NZ$1.222 billion deficit in September.

Exports slipped 4.5 percent on year to NZ$3.83 billion, shy of forecasts for NZ$4.00 billion but up from NZ$3.69 billion in the previous month. Imports fell an annual 2.2 percent to NZ$4.79 billion versus expectations for NZ$4.97 billion and down from NZ$4.91 billion a month earlier.

Meanwhile, crude oil prices rose as U.S. producers continued to shut down rigs amid tight margins and U.S. crude inventories rose less-than-expected last week. Crude oil for January delivery are currently up $0.14 to $43.18 a barrel.

The U.S. oil rig count fell by 9 to 555 this week, according to driller Baker Hughes. That's sharply down from above 1500 the same time a year ago.

Data from the Energy Information Administration showed that the crude inventories rose to 1 million barrels in the week ended November 20, less than economists' expectation for an increase of 1.2 million barrels.

Wednesday, the NZ dollar rose to 0.36 percent against the U.S. dollar, 0.52 percent against the yen and 0.52 percent against the euro.

In the Asian trading, the NZ dollar rose to 6-day highs of 0.6588 against the U.S. dollar, 80.81 against the yen and 1.0972 against the Australian dollar, from yesterday's closing quotes of 0.6576, 80.70 and 1.1018, respectively. If the kiwi extends its uptrend, it is likely to find resistance around 0.68 against the greenback, 82.00 against the yen and 1.08 against the aussie.

Against the euro, the kiwi advanced to 1.6116 from yesterday's closing value of 1.6146. The kiwi is likely to find resistance around the 1.60 region.

Looking ahead, Swiss industrial production for the third quarter, Eurozone M3 money supply data for October and German Gfk consumer confidence index for December are due later in the day.

U.S. banks will be closed in observance of Thanksgiving Day holiday.