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Kiwi falls vs greenback, yen on Goldman Sachs charges

The New Zealand dollar consolidated at lower levels today after the fraud charges against Goldman Sachs, prompting investors to seek refuge in the safe haven currencies.The NZ dollar was 70.86USc at 5pm from 70.76USc at 8am and 71.07USc at 5pm on Friday.A

NZPA
Mon, 19 Apr 2010

The New Zealand dollar consolidated at lower levels today after the fraud charges against Goldman Sachs, prompting investors to seek refuge in the safe haven currencies.

The NZ dollar was 70.86USc at 5pm from 70.76USc at 8am and 71.07USc at 5pm on Friday.

After the Goldman Sachs news broke on Saturday NZ time, the NZ dollar fell from around 71.25USc to around 70.65USc within an hour.

Attention is also now turning to Consumer Price Index data for the March quarter due in New Zealand tomorrow.

TD Securities speculated that a "cat is about to pounce on the doves" who expect interest rates to remain low for a long time in New Zealand.

"Tomorrow we expect a nasty upside surprise to March quarter inflation, especially when compared with the Reserve Bank of New Zealand (RBNZ) forecast."

TD Securities expects a 0.9% rise in the quarter to an annual rate of 2.6 percent, which is in the top half of the RBNZ's 1-3% target range. The market consensus is for a 0.6% quarterly rise.

Westpac said the CPI was arguably the most important piece of information for the RBNZ ahead of the April 20 review of the official cash rate.

Westpac predicts a 0.7% rise, which it said would "seal the deal" for a rise in the official cash rate in June and be positive for the NZ dollar.

Westpac said last week saw a confluence of risk-averse factors causing so-called safe haven currencies to outperform.

By 5pm the NZ dollar was ¥65.21 from ¥65.90 at Friday's local close.

It was at €0.5260 from €0.5252 and at 77.04Ac from 76.45Ac.

The trade weighted index was at 65.75 at 5pm from 65.74 on Friday.

NZPA
Mon, 19 Apr 2010
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Kiwi falls vs greenback, yen on Goldman Sachs charges
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