NZ Dollar Rises As New Zealand Q3 GDP Expands

The NZ dollar strengthened against the other major currencies in the early Asian session on Thursday after data showed that domestic gross domestic product expanded sequentially in the third quarter of 2014.

Data from Statistics New Zealand showed that New Zealand's gross domestic product expanded a better than expected 1 percent quarter-over-quarter. "This is some of the strongest growth in primary industries for 15 years," national accounts manager Gary Dunnet said. "Milk production had a good start to the season, while oil exploration, and oil and gas extraction also grew."

Meanwhile, the Asian stocks traded higher after the Federal Reserve said it would remain patient on interest rate hikes. The benchmark NZSE 50 index is currently up 26.58 points or 0.48 percent at 5,523.

On Wednesday, the NZ dollar rose 0.26 percent against the yen, 0.08 percent against the euro and 0.12 percent against the Australian dollar.

In the Asian trading today, the NZ dollar rose to a 9-year high of 1.0471 against the Australian dollar, from yesterday's closing quote of 1.0521. If the kiwi extends its uptrend, it is likely to find resistance around the 1.041 area.

Against the euro and the yen, the kiwi advanced to a 6-day high of 1.5914 and a 3-day high of 91.89 from yesterday's closing quotes of 1.6017 and 91.34, respectively. The kiwi is likely to find resistance around 1.58 against the euro and 93.16 against the yen.

Looking ahead, German IFO business climate index for December is due to be released in the European session.

In the New York session, U.S. weekly jobless claims for the week ended December 13, Flash U.S. Markit's services PMI for December, leading indicators for November and Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia's manufacturing index for December are due to be released.