NZ Dollar Higher Amid Rising Risk Appetite

The NZ dollar appreciated against its major counterparts in the Asian session on Thursday, as most Asian stock markets rose following a tech rebound on Wall Street and on data showing a significant increase in Japanese core machines orders in the month of July.

Crude oil prices rebounded strongly after tumbling on Tuesday.

The Financial Times reported that AstraZeneca could resume trials for its experimental coronavirus vaccine next week.

Investors await the European Central Bank's monetary policy decision due later in the day. The ECB is unlikely to announce any big changes to its policy, but indicate that it is prepared to loosen policy if required.

Data from Statistics New Zealand showed that New Zealand electronic retail card spending fell a seasonally adjusted 7.9 percent on month in August, following the 1.2 percent increase in July.

On a yearly basis, retail card transactions dipped 0.8 percent after jumping 11.4 percent in the previous month.

The NZ currency climbed to a 2-day high of 0.6690 versus the greenback, from yesterday's closing value of 0.6684. The next possible resistance for the kiwi is seen around the 0.68 level.

The kiwi bounced off to 71.02 against the yen, after having fallen to 70.83 at 5:05 pm ET. If the kiwi rises further, 72.00 is possibly seen as its next resistance level.

The kiwi advanced to a 2-day high of 1.0876 versus the aussie and held steady thereafter. At Wednesday's close, the pair was worth 1.0891.

In contrast, the kiwi eased to 1.7709 against the euro, reversing from an early 2-day high of 1.7652 and held steady thereafter. The pair had finished Wednesday's deals at 1.7658.

Looking ahead, the European Central Bank will announce interest rate decision at 7:45 am ET. The ECB is expected to hold its main refi rate at a record low zero percent and the deposit rate at -0.50 percent.

U.S. PPI for August, weekly jobless claims for the week ended September 5 and wholesale inventories for July will be out in the New York session.