Kiwi may rise as Facebook euphoria stokes risk appetite

BUSINESSDESK: The New Zealand dollar may rise over the next couple of days as reports that Facebook 's initial public offering closed before its official Friday launch stokes investor appetite for growth or riskier assets.

The kiwi was little changed at 77.76 US cents at 5pm from 77.78 cents at 8am, and was down from 78.16 cents yesterday.

The trade-weighted index fell to 70.17 from 70.40 yesterday.

Standard & Poor's 500 index futures are up 3.1 points to 1337.20 in anticipation investors will be upbeat when the New York session begins as Facebook's float dominates headlines.

Bloomberg reported the social media platform wants to raise its price range to $US34-to-$US38 a share from a previous range of $US28 to $US35.

Facebook is seeking to raise as much as $US12.8 billion in an IPO that would value the company at $US104.2 billion.

"Equities are oversold and the Facebook IPO on Friday has closed already - that's going to add to US equities," said Tim Kelleher, head of institutional FX sales NZ at ASB Institutional.

"There's potential for the Aussie and kiwi to go higher," he said, referring to the trans-Tasman currencies colloquially.

Foreign holdings of New Zealand government bonds rose to 62.1% last month from 60.9% a year earlier.

Mr Kelleher said that means there's foreign demand for New Zealand dollars, and the kiwi could gain a couple of cents over the next few days, having shed 5 US cents in 10 days.

The unfolding political drama in Greece, where legislators struggle to form a government after the people elected a hung Parliament last week, will continue as the Mediterranean nation faces a 436 million euro principal repayment.

Investors will also be watching to see how the first meeting between new French President Francois Hollande meets German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

Statistics New Zealand revised the way it measures gross domestic product, bringing down 2011 annual growth to an estimated 1.1% from 1.4%.

Traders are betting the Reserve Bank cuts 20 basis points from the 2.5% official cash rate over the coming 12 months, according to the Overnight Index Swap curve.

The New Zealand dollar was little changed at 60.62 euro cents from 60.59 cents yesterday and fell to 48.33 pence from 48.65 pence.

It declined to 77.92 Australian cents from 78.04 cents yesterday, and dropped to 62.11 yen from 62.53 yen.