Aussie, Kiwi perform strong after manufacturing data

South Pacific currencies gained in value on Wednesday, propelled by news about strong manufacturing in China, Europe and the U.S., Bloomberg reports.

The New Zealand dollar pushed to its top value in four months against the U.S. dollar and the Australian dollar touched its top value against the world's reserve currency since late October of last year. The purchasing managers' index for manufacturing in China drove to 50.5 last month after notching 50.3 during the month of December, which benefited both monetary units' performance on foreign exchange markets.

"We reacted to the Chinese PMI,” said Fabian Eliasson, head of U.S. currency sales at Mizuho Financial Group Inc. in New York. “It helps the commodity currencies. The risk currencies are reacting positively on that news.”

In Europe, the metric for manufacturing employed by Markit Economics increased to 48.8 in January after notching 46.9 during the month of December.

Agence France-Presse reports the leader of Australia said on Wednesday that the value of the Australian dollar is likely to stay at high levels for many years to come since it is considered a safe haven while world markets struggle with upheaval, debt crises and additional turmoil.