The New Zealand dollar failed to make ground against the US dollar today, but leapt against the Australian dollar near the end of the session after the Reserve Bank of Australia unexpectedly kept interest rates on hold.The kiwi had taken a hit earlier aft
The New Zealand dollar failed to make ground against the US dollar today, but leapt against the Australian dollar near the end of the session after the Reserve Bank of Australia unexpectedly kept interest rates on hold.
The kiwi had taken a hit earlier after further signs of a soggy economy emerged this morning, in the NZIER's quarterly business opinion survey.
Businesses turned pessimistic in the September quarter after a year of sustained optimism, pointing to little or no economic growth in the second half of the year.
The survey also showed the economy contracted in the September quarter after stalling in June.
Seasonally adjusted, a net 9% of firms were pessimistic about the general business situation, compared with a net 26% of optimists in the June survey.
By 5pm, the kiwi was at 73.93USc, down from 74.26USc at the same time yesterday.
The kiwi was at A77.10c not long after the RBA decision, up from yesterday's A76.65c.
There had been increasing expectations the RBA would raise the benchmark rate to 4.75% from 4.5%, on the back of recent hawkish comments from the central bank and strength in the economy.
The aussie lost around 1USc after the announcement, although the bank gave indications that further rate rises were on the horizon.
The kiwi was at slightly higher against the euro at €0.5417, but weaker against sterling and the yen at 46.73p and ¥61.71 respectively.
There was little change on the trade weighted index, which was at 66.56 from 66.63 yesterday.
