Pacific Exchange Rates Report for December 25 – January 5

By: The Quinnipiac University Economics Research Team, Dan Hogan

Pacific Currencies Index

Source: Yahoo Finance and own calculations. Exchange rates are inverted to be USD per local currency (i.e., an increase indicates a stronger domestic currency) and then indexed to be 100 at the start of the period.

During the weeks from December 25th to January 5th, uniform performances were observed across various currencies. In the initial part of the week, the New Zealand dollar (blue) and Australian dollar (green) took the lead within the group until midweek when both currencies began to decline. Ultimately, by the week's end, the AUD and NZD recorded decreases of 1.0% and 1.5% against the USD, respectively. Conversely, the Japanese yen (maroon) and the South Korean won (red) experienced even more pronounced declines, weakening by nearly 2.0% and 1.5%, respectively.  

Pacific Historical Trends

Source: Yahoo Finance and own calculations. Exchange rates are inverted to be USD per local currency (i.e., an increase indicates a stronger domestic currency. The center line is a rolling three-month average. The upper and lower boundaries are the average plus and average minus one standard deviation, respectively, for the same three-month period.

During the weeks from December 25th to January 5th, the upward trend that the Pacific currencies had experienced over the past few months came to a halt. The Australian dollar (AUD) saw a decline, reaching the upper limit for the first time in nearly a month. Similarly, both the Japanese yen (JPY) and the South Korean won (KRW) dropped below their upper thresholds, while the New Zealand Dollar (NZD) came close to falling to the three-month rolling standard deviation. These subpar performances signify a temporary conclusion to the month-long rally.