S&P affirms New Zealand’s rating and positive outlook, Kiwi stays below 0.6300

Coronavirus outbreak and slowing Chinese economy unlikely to weigh on New Zealand's credit quality even as growth slows, S&P Global Ratings said in its latest credit review report on Thursday.

Additional points

Don't expect slowing China economy from outbreak of new coronavirus to substantially weigh on NZ's long-term growth prospects.

Expect New Zealand's economic growth to slow to about 2.2% in fiscal 2020 with low interest rates, wage growth.

Positive outlook on long-term ratings on New Zealand reflects view of country's declining exposure to risks related to its high external debt.

Kiwi’s recovery remains capped below 0.6300

Amid broad risk-aversion, reflective of fresh record lows in the US Treasury yields and over 1.5% drop in the S&P 500 futures, the recovery attempts in the NZD/USD pair remains capped by the 0.6300 level.

At the press time, the Kiwi trades modestly flat at 0.6292, having hit a new four-month low of 0.6284 in early Asia.