FX round-up: Kiwi dollar leads USD charge

The New Zealand dollar was the standout performer on Thursday, though the US dollar was slightly stronger against sterling and euro, and the pound was up on the single currency.

The Kiwi was boosted by stronger than expected New Zealand consumer confidence data, coupled with increasing confidence that the US rate rise will be pushed back into 2016.

Data showed consumer sentiment among kiwis was boosted by low mortgage rates and a rebound in dairy prices, with another report finding that manufacturing activity picked up in September on rising new orders.

The NZD/USD was up 0.74% to 0.6858, it's highest level since the end of June, with Bank of New Zealand currency experts suggesting the pair faced strong resistance at 0.685.

The greenback's recent surge had been battered back on Wednesday by a range of unimpressive economic data releases that each added to decreased expectations of a US rate hike this year.

Further dollar weakness emerged at the start of the European session, with the Japanese yen bearing the brunt of this.

But the US dollar bounced back by late in the UK session, and was up by 0.09 against the British pound, helped by stronger than expected CPI data and a bigger than expected fall in jobless claims.

This seemed to outweigh weak Philly Fed and Empire State manufacturing indices data.

"Whilst some are getting excited by the euro strength the story is really the dollar weakness being seen," said Simon Smith, chief economist at FxPro. "Over the past three weeks, it’s the kiwi, Aussie, Canadian dollar and Swiss franc that have been leading the charge against the dollar on the majors, with sterling and the euro dragging behind."

The euro was down 0.6% against against the USD and GBP, cutting the top off its faltering rally in the last fortnight.

"ECB member Nowotny played into the notion of further ECB stimulus with his comment on Thursday that the bank is clearly missing its target," noted analyst Jasper Lawler at CMC Markets UK.