Coronavirus update: New Zealand looking good on COVID-19

Dhwani Mehta FXStreet

New Zealand (NZ) Health Minister Chris Hipkins said in a statement on Thursday, the country is looking good on the COVID-19 situation.

“We do not need zero cases to lift the lockdown of Auckland,” he added.

As on Wednesday, NZ had five new cases and a new potential "mini-cluster" has been identified. There were three new community cases, one of which is under investigation.

Auckland is in alert level 3 until 11.59pm on Sunday when it will move to a tighter level 2 with a 10-person limit on social gatherings.

The rest of the country is at normal level 2, where there is a 100-person limit on social gatherings.

Meanwhile, South Korea reported 441 New coronavirus cases, the most daily infections since early March.

The Australian state of Victoria recorded 130 new infections, with 23 new deaths over the past 24 hours.

Market reaction

The intensifying spread of the virus across Asia keeps investors unnerved while a sense of caution also prevails ahead of the crucial Fed Chair Jerome Powell’s speech at the Jackson Hole Symposium due later today at 1310 GMT.

Amid broad US dollar weakness, NZD/USD trades well bid above 0.6500 while S&P 500 futures nurse losses near 3,470.

Author

Dhwani Mehta

FXStreet

Residing in Mumbai (India), Dhwani is a Senior Analyst and Manager of the Asian session at FXStreet. She has over 10 years of experience in analyzing and covering the global financial markets, with specialization in Forex and commodities markets.

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