What does it mean when a "country intervenes in the currency market"??
New Zealand intervened in the currency market last week and the $NZ dropped, does that mean NZ prints more money to devalue the $NZ?
It usually means that they purchased massive amounts of foreign currencies in exchange for their own currency (they do this when they want to prevent their own currency from getting too strong). What happened in your example is that NZ likely sold $NZ for likely euros and dollars (the two most heavily traded currencies).New Zealand intervened in the currency market last week and the $NZ dropped, does that mean NZ prints more money to devalue the $NZ?
A central bank/country could also intervene to prevent their currency from getting too weak, in this scenario they would sell their foreign currency reserves for their local currency and the result would be that the local currency would increase in value
That is correct. Appreciation of a currency can affect exporters. It would make their exports (which are denominated in say USD) less competitive. So a central bank usually steps in (by selling / buying foreign currency) to maintain a target exchange rate.
