The New Zealand dollar slipped against the US dollar but remained above US74c for most of the overnight session, while chalking up a small gain against a weakening euro.By 8am today the kiwi was buying US74.14c from US74.26c at 5pm yesterday, having spike
The New Zealand dollar slipped against the US dollar but remained above US74c for most of the overnight session, while chalking up a small gain against a weakening euro.
By 8am today the kiwi was buying US74.14c from US74.26c at 5pm yesterday, having spiked to a 10-month high around US74.60c early on Saturday.
Against the euro, the NZ dollar was up to 0.5417 at 8am from 0.5400 at 5pm.
In the wider market, the euro fell from its highest level in more than six months against the US dollar as renewed concerns about the financial viability of euro zone banks, and weak outlooks for some countries in the zone, made investors cut overly bullish bets on the single currency.
But the greenback's downtrend was expected to remain intact, due to uncertainty arising from the widely-expected second round of quantitative easing by the Federal Reserve.
BNZ markets strategist Mike Jones said the NZ dollar held up better than most overnight.
It was helped by the ANZ commodity price index yesterday afternoon which showed a 2.9 percent gain in world prices for this country's export commodities, putting world prices back to within 1 percent of their all-time high in May, Mr Jones said.
The New Zealand Institute of Economic Research's Quarterly Survey of Business Opinion, due at 10am today, would be important for gauging the fortitude of the recovery.
But for currency watchers, the Reserve Bank of Australia's rates decision, due at 4.30pm (NZT), would probably be of more interest.
At 8am today the kiwi was at A76.66c against the aussie, having tracked largely sideways since yesterday morning, while the NZ dollar was down to 61.81 yen from 62.09 at 5pm. The trade weighted index slipped to 66.60 at 8am from 66.63.
