Dollar climbs on Aussie jobs report

The New Zealand dollar rose today after a stronger than expected employment report in Australia made this part of the world a more attractive investment destination.

The NZ dollar was US74.06c at 5pm, up from US73.92c at 8am and little changed from US74.04c at 5pm yesterday.

It lost some ground against the Australian dollar to be A79.66c at 5pm from A80.22c at the same time yesterday.

The Australian dollar rose to be US92.95c at 5pm from US92.26c at the same time yesterday.

A net 35,200 new jobs were created in Australia in December, more than three times the market forecast. The jobless rate dropped to 5.5 per cent, the lowest since April, from a downwardly revised 5.6 per cent in November.

Mike Jones, currency strategist at BNZ, said the data was not as strong as appeared with some of the increase being in part-time employment.

"It is just another sign that growth in this part of the world looks reasonably well founded," he said.

"What is good for the Australian economy tends to be good for the New Zealand economy."

The US dollar market was trading in a range ahead of the release of retail sales data in the US tonight. The European Central Bank was also due to make an announcement overnight.

The NZ dollar was 0.5094 euro at 5pm from 0.5114 at yesterday, while it rose to 67.94 yen from 67.39.

The trade weighted index was 66.79 from 66.92.

- NZPA