By:Barbara Zigah
With investors trimming their buy positions, growth-linked, generally high yielding currencies, came close to approaching their 1-year high versus the Japanese Yen. Appetite for higher risk assets such as the New Zealand and Australian Dollars was somewhat lukewarm in Asian trading today, as investors wait for the U.S. market to reopen following a national holiday yesterday. According to one treasury products manager of a Tokyo bank, participants need to see whether or not any trading leads materialize that would help boost risk appetite. While recent data has been good, the markets have already factored those fundamentals into the pricing, so further indications are needed before investors are ready to take the plunge.
The Australian Dollar was steady at $0.8557 versus the U.S. Dollar, off slightly from a 1-year high of $0.8578 hit yesterday. The New Zealand Dollar, which had climbed more than .8% yesterday to hit a 1-year high trade of $0.6935, retreated slightly to trade at $0.6916. On Thursday, the New Zealand Reserve Bank will hold a monetary policy meeting and investors are anxious to hear what Reserve Bank Governor Alan Bollard will say about the 30% rise of the kiwi in recent months.