NZ dollar holds against euro, gains against Aussie
The New Zealand dollar lost ground against the greenback during a volatile session, but outperformed the softer Australian dollar and held up against the euro.
The New Zealand dollar lost ground against the greenback during a volatile session, but outperformed the softer Australian dollar and held up against the euro.
The New Zealand dollar lost ground against the greenback during a volatile session, but outperformed the softer Australian dollar and held up against the euro.
The kiwi failed to break fresh ground against the euro, which found some respite overnight, but remained near five-year highs. By 5pm, the kiwi was at €0.5860, down from €0.5901 at the same time yesterday.
The kiwi first broke the significant level of €0.5800 in late December and has made large gains against the European currency since then.
"It's clearly broken above that and looking for all money like it will keep nudging higher, until the eurozone gets all fixed up," Westpac senior market strategist Imre Speizer said.
The kiwi was a touch weaker against the US dollar, at 75.86USc from 76.13USc yesterday, but rose to 77.01Ac against the Australian dollar, from 76.44Ac.
The kiwi fell slightly against the yen and sterling, and the trade weighted index eased to 68.99 from 69.14.
"During our session, it was all about the Aussie floods -- the Aussie dollar's getting quite severely sold," Mr Speizer said.
The aussie fell more than 1USc today, and as the already devastating floods looked like they were intensifying, investors were evaluating the impacts on the Australian economy.
The euro recovered some losses against the greenback after the European Central Bank provided some support to Greece, Portugal and Ireland.
However, concerns about indebted euro zone countries and talk Portugal will need a bailout persisted.