After starting the week with a flourish, the New Zealand dollar fell against the currencies of the United States and Japan overnight, pulled down by a weakening Australian currency.Around 8am today the kiwi was buying US71.20c, down from US71.60c at 5pm y
After starting the week with a flourish, the New Zealand dollar fell against the currencies of the United States and Japan overnight, pulled down by a weakening Australian currency.
Around 8am today the kiwi was buying US71.20c, down from US71.60c at 5pm yesterday. It peaked late yesterday morning above US71.90c, its highest level in 2-1/2 months.
The NZ dollar also peaked at its highest level in 2-1/2 months against the Japanese currency late morning yesterday, around 67 yen, then fell to be at 66.38 yen at today's local open, below the 66.66 yen at 5pm yesterday.
Against the Australian dollar, the kiwi briefly got to A77c around 8pm, having climbed away from its lowest level in more than nine years, around A75.50c reached a week ago. By 8am the NZ dollar was at A76.69c. little changed from its level at the local close.
The NZ dollar traded in a narrow band against the euro overnight, haven fallen from a 25-month high early Saturday around 0.5330 euro, and at the local open today was buying 0.5242 euro. The trade weighted index fell to 65.86 at 8am from 66.00 at 5pm yesterday.
BNZ strategist Mike Jones said the bank's measure of risk appetite had surged to its highest level since July 2007, with market sentiment still buzzing from Sunday night's announcement of a sweetened rescue deal for Greece.
Despite the supportive global backdrop, the NZ dollar was hamstrung against the greenback by a weaker aussie.
Data showing a 1.8 percent fall in Australian home loans in February suggested the Reserve Bank of Australia's five interest rate hikes may be beginning to crimp housing demand, Mr Jones said.
In addition assistant RBA governor Guy Debelle said Australian interest rates were "not far" from average -- encouraging investors to pare expectations for a May RBA hike.
