Earlier in the Day:

It was a busy start to the day on the economic calendar this morning. The Aussie Dollar and the Kiwi Dollar were in action this morning, with economic data from China also in focus.

For the Kiwi Dollar

Business confidence and electronic card retail sales were in focus in the early hours.

In the 1^st quarter, a net 11% of businesses expect a worsening in general economic conditions in the coming months.

According to the NZIER, this was a modest improvement from 16% of businesses that were pessimistic in the previous quarter.

Electronic card retail sales rose by 0.9% in March, partially reversing a 2.5% decline from February. The upside came in spite of spending constraints in the 1^st week of March.

According to NZ Stats,

• Card spending increased in four of the six retail industries.

• Sales of durables increased by 1.8%, while spending on consumables slid by 3.3%.

The Kiwi Dollar moved from $0.70293 to $0.70324 upon release of the figures. At the time of writing, the Kiwi Dollar down by 0.20% to $0.7016.

For the Aussie Dollar

In March, the NAB Business Confidence Index fell from 18 to 15. In February, the index had risen from 13 to 18.

According to the March survey,

• In spite of the fall in confidence, confidence remained at a high level suggesting that firms are optimistic that the strength in activity will continue.

• While confidence declined, business conditions rose by 8 points to a record high +25 in March.

• Strong increases in all the sub-components, which are all now also at record highs drove the conditions index higher.

Looking at the sub-components:

• The employment sub-index climbed from +9 to +16, with the capacity utilization rate rising from 81.8% to 82.3%.

• Profitability also improved, with the sub-index rising from +18 to +26.

• A pickup in inflationary pressures was also evident. The labor costs sub-index rose by 1.9% following a 1.1% increase in February. Purchases costs increased by 1.8%, following a more modest 0.7% rise in February.

• Forward orders were also on the rise, with the sub-index climbing from +10 to +17.

• The trading sub-index saw the largest increase, however, jumping from +23 to +35 in March.

The Aussie Dollar moved from $0.76095 to $0.76109 upon release of the figures. At the time of writing, the Aussie Dollar was down by 0.20% to $0.7608.

From China

Trade data was in focus this morning.

In March, China’s U.S Dollar trade surplus widened from $103.25bn to $116.35bn. Economists had forecast a narrowing to $52.05bn.

Exports surged by 49.0% year-on-year, following a 60.60% jump in March, with imports rising by 38.1%. In February, imports had risen by 22.2%.