The New Zealand dollar headed decisively below US69c early today as investors remained wary, despite some hopeful news from European banks.The kiwi was close to its lowest level in nearly three weeks at US68.59c around 8am, having fallen from US69.24c at
The New Zealand dollar headed decisively below US69c early today as investors remained wary, despite some hopeful news from European banks.
The kiwi was close to its lowest level in nearly three weeks at US68.59c around 8am, having fallen from US69.24c at 5pm yesterday and from around US71.50c on Saturday.
Against the European currency, the NZ dollar fell to 0.5608 euros at today's local open from 0.5670 at 5pm.
The euro rose across the board after banks borrowed less money than expected from the European Central Bank, soothing concerns over European banks' funding issues.
The tender results were keenly awaited as a gauge of how reliant European banks are on ECB emergency funding. Spanish, Portuguese and Greek banks have been the biggest users of the facilities.
"The much less-than-expected requirement for ECB funding is significant, as it suggests that difficulties throughout euro-zone financial institutions were not as bad as originally feared," said Jamie Heighway, a market analyst at Custom House, a Western Union company, in Victoria, British Columbia.
The US dollar slipped against the yen on concerns about the outlook for the US economy following a report showed US private employers added a paltry 13,000 jobs in June.
BNZ strategist Mike Jones said market sentiment appeared to stabilise last night but remained fairly fragile, with investors reluctant to take positions ahead of significant event risk of coming days.
As a consequence growth-sensitive currencies, such as the NZ dollar, tended to underperform, Mr Jones said.
A slate of global data releases tonight would provide an important cross-check on the strength of the global upturn. Any hint of further softness would knock back risk appetite, and the NZ dollar against the greenback, even further.
The NZ dollar reached a three-week low against the Japanese currency, and at 8am remained near the low point, buying 60.63 yen from 61.37 yen at 5pm yesterday.
But the kiwi did lift to A81.53c against the Australian dollar at 8am from A81.32c at yesterday's local close.
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