The New Zealand dollar nudged toward the 73USc level today as the Australian dollar rose and equity markets firmed.The NZ dollar was at 72.82USc at 5pm from 72.59USc at 8am and 72.18USc at 5pm on Friday. The Australian dollar rose to a three-month hi
The New Zealand dollar nudged toward the 73USc level today as the Australian dollar rose and equity markets firmed.
The NZ dollar was at 72.82USc at 5pm from 72.59USc at 8am and 72.18USc at 5pm on Friday.
The Australian dollar rose to a three-month high and was 90.88USc at 5pm from 89.99USc on Friday.
Dealers said the NZ dollar had basically recovered to the levels of a week ago on short-covering and on the back of a strong performance by the Australian dollar.
It fell last week on comments about the weakness of the economy by Reserve Bank Governor Alan Bollard when he raised the official cash rate 25 basis points to 3% on Thursday.
The short-covering came after activity in the Chinese manufacturing sector held up in July in data released on Sunday. The Chinese purchasing managers' index eased only slightly, from 52.1 to 51.2.
The ANZ Commodity Price Index recorded a second successive drop in July today, easing 0.8 percent over the month. There is also interest in the latest Fonterra milk powder auction, the results of which are due tomorrow morning.
The big event of the week is local unemployment data on Thursday.
The market was very surprised by the sudden drop in the unemployment rate from 7.1% to 6% last month.
Rankin Treasury said the Australian dollar has powered through 90USc and has risen 4.50USc in the last two weeks.
Against the Australian dollar the NZ dollar has been close to 82Ac but now threatens support at 80Ac. It was 80.14Ac at 5pm from 80.07Ac at 8am from 80.17Ac on Friday at 5pm.
The NZ dollar was at €0.5570 at 5pm from €0.5518 on Friday. It at ¥62.99 from ¥63.35 on Friday.
The trade weighted index was 67.57 from 67.12 Friday.
