NZ dollar dips against Australian dollar

The New Zealand dollar fell against its transtasman counterpart as higher iron ore prices bolstered demand for the Aussie ahead of Australian inflation data today.

The kiwi slipped to 93.59Ac at 8am in Wellington from 93.79Ac cents yesterday, extending its decline for a third day. It was little changed at 71.58USc from 71.48USc yesterday, buoyed by the Australian dollar's strength.

The Australian dollar rose 0.5% to 76.44USc as iron prices climbed 6% on the Dalian Commodity Exchange, the daily limit for the bourse. The Aussie has been supported by recent gains in hard commodity prices, though today's consumer price index will be a key indicator for traders. Core inflation is expected to be 0.4% in the September quarter and, while Reserve Bank of Australia governor Philip Lowe has said he doesn't plan to move rates further, a weak number could cause investors to question that stance.

"The Australian dollar has been the best-performing major currency for the month to date, even surpassing the strength of the US dollar, reflecting the general lift in commodity prices," Bank of New Zealand currency strategist Jason Wong said in a note. "A weaker outturn for the core rates of, say, 0.2% would add fuel to further Reserve Bank of Australia rate cut expectations and lead to a stronger $NZ/$UD cross."

The British pound slumped on an investment bank reporting stating the currency was overvalued by 10%, though it later recovered when Bank of England governor Mark Carney told policymakers the currency's weakness was due to perceptions about the future of UK economic output in relation to the Brexit. The kiwi rose to 58.74 British pence from 58.46 pence yesterday.

The local currency was little changed at 65.70 euro cents from 65.72 cents yesterday after European Central Bank president Mario Draghi defended the bank's monetary policy and said it hadn't been hurting German households.

The kiwi traded at ¥74.60 from ¥74.66 yesterday and increased to 4.8537 Chinese yuan from 4.8435 yuan. The trade-weighted index was little changed at 77.08 from 77.04 yesterday.

(BusinessDesk)