WELLINGTON, Sept. 17 (Xinhua) -- The New Zealand dollar (NZD) remains the tenth most traded currency globally, according to a global survey compiled by the Bank of International Settlements (BIS) released on Tuesday.
The NZD has held the No. 10 spot since 2010. The U.S. dollar retained the top spot, followed by the euro and the Japanese yen, respectively.
New Zealand has had a high foreign exchange turnover to GDP ratio throughout history, which has enabled non-residents to freely trade directly in the currency as well as in New Zealand dollar-denominated financial instruments, said Christian Hawkesby, assistant governor and general manager of economics, financial markets and banking of the Reserve Bank.
The triennial survey took place in April and involved central banks and other authorities in 53 jurisdictions and close to 1,300 banks and other dealers.
"The BIS survey is an interesting exercise which highlights that although our economy is relatively minor compared to the survey participants we are ranked against, the NZ dollar is traded with a disproportionate frequency in global foreign exchange markets," Hawkesby said.
Trading in foreign exchange markets reached 6.6 trillion NZ dollars (4.2 trillion U.S. dollars) per day in April, according to BIS figures, up from 5.1 trillion NZ dollars (3.2 trillion U.S. dollars) three years earlier, statistics showed.
New Zealand's foreign exchange market handled an average of 9.5 billion U.S. dollars per day in April 2019, down from 10.6 billion U.S. dollars in April 2016.
The most common currencies traded daily in New Zealand are the U.S. dollar, NZ Dollar, Australian dollar, Japanese yen, euro and the British pound.
