The New Zealand dollar pushed up to a six-month high close to US74c late last night but then fell away quickly.BNZ markets strategist Mike Jones said that for the most part, the NZ dollar tracked gyrations in risk appetite and global equity markets last n
The New Zealand dollar pushed up to a six-month high close to US74c late last night but then fell away quickly.
BNZ markets strategist Mike Jones said that for the most part, the NZ dollar tracked gyrations in risk appetite and global equity markets last night.
Earlier in the night, upbeat European economic data and solid profit announcements from UBS and Deutsche Bank buoyed optimism about the global outlook, Mr Jones said.
European equities rose and the VIX index -- a proxy for global risk aversion -- tracked steadily lower.
That all served to underpin demand for high yielding currencies such as the kiwi, while safe haven currencies such as the US dollar and yen were shunned.
But the lofty highs for the NZ dollar did not last long, and another disappointing read on US consumer confidence released later in the overnight session eroded investors' risk appetite and the safe haven currencies staged a comeback.
Climbing from around US73.20c at lunchtime yesterday, the NZ dollar reached as high as US73.95c shortly before midnight, according to Reuters data, before falling away to be at US73.27c at 5pm.
The kiwi also reached a five-week high 64.68 yen before falling to 64.44 at the local open, having been at 63.84 yen at 5pm.
The NZ dollar slipped to 0.5635 euro at 8am from 0.5648 at 5pm, and was down to A81.20c against the Australian dollar from A81.40c at the local close. The trade weighted index was 68.36 at 8am from 68.39 at 5pm.
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