The New Zealand dollar traded in a relatively narrow band above US81c against the greenback today but dipped to its lowest level in two weeks against the euro on the back of news the Greek Government won a confidence vote in Parliament.
The New Zealand dollar traded in a relatively narrow band above US81c against the greenback today but dipped to its lowest level in two weeks against the euro on the back of news the Greek Government won a confidence vote in Parliament.
Traders were apparently reassured by the efforts of Greek politicians trying to secure financial aid and avert the euro zone's first sovereign debt default, though the NZ dollar had lifted again by the end of the day.
Reuters reported that forex markets appeared to be waiting for the outcome of the US Federal Reserve's policy meeting last night, to be followed by a rare post-meeting briefing from Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke. It was the first key meeting at the United States central bank since US economic data started to take on a decisively weaker tone around a month ago.
The kiwi stood at US81.28 at 5pm -- holding just above its New York close -- up from US80.96 at the same time on Tuesday. It briefly flirted with a high around US81.40 after statisticians showed a surprise improvement in the current account deficit.
Statistics New Zealand said the deficit was a seasonally-adjusted $1.8 billion in the three months -- down $1.1 billion from the December quarter -- as foreign companies, including insurers, drew smaller profits from NZ.
Separately, a capital account surplus of $7.5b in the March quarter was due to an estimated $7.6b of reinsurance claims on non-residents, after the February 22 quake.
"The current account data was better than expected, but kiwi seems to be capped at US81.50," said Tim Kelleher, CBA's vice president of institutional banking and markets, who noted the data was not likely to affect the Reserve Bank's signal that interest rates might start to rise as soon as December.
Against the Australian dollar, the kiwi rose fractionally to A76.76, from A76.71 the previous day, and the Aussie itself dawdled at $US1.0588 at 5pm, from $US1.0555 the previous day.
Since its rally to a 29-year peak of $US1.1012 last month stalled, the Aussie has settled into a trading range roughly between $US1.0500 and $1US.0700.
The NZ dollar edged up from 0.5646 euro at 5pm on Tuesday, to 0.5654 at the same time today, but touched a low around 0.5625 early today.
The NZ dollar edged up to 65.25 yen from 64.90. The trade weighted index was 70.15 at 5pm from 69.96 at teh same time on Tuesday.
