Kiwi Dollar Nosedives Post Retail Sales Report

New Zealand Retail Sales

Earlier during the Asian session, there was a major release in New Zealand. The Retail Sales report, measuring the total receipts of retail stores was published by the Statistics New Zealand. The market was expecting an increase of 0.5% in sales for the second quarter of 2015, compared with the preceding quarter. However, the result was disappointing, as the New Zealand Retail Sales gained by 0.1%. Looking at the yearly change, the total sales value was $18.9 billion in the second quarter of 2015, which was up by 4.1 percent and was also higher than the second quarter of 2014.

Furthermore, the New Zealand Core Retail Sales data was also on the lower side. It increased 0.1%, but was a lot lower, compared with the last rise of 2.9%.

Commenting on the report, the business indicators manager, Neil Kelly, stated that “Although just over half the industries had sales volume increases this quarter, they were modest in size compared with growth in recent quarters”. There was a downside reaction noted in the NZDUSD pair, as it moved lower by more than 40 pips during the past session.

NZDUSD Technical Analysis

The NZDUSD pair declined after the release, and traded near the 0.6500 support area. The pair is now below the 100 simple moving average on the 4-hours chart, which is a bearish sign in the near term. Moving ahead, more losses cannot be discarded if the 0.6500 support area is cleared.