Dollar weakens following jump higher on retail sales

File photo / NZ Herald

The New Zealand dollar weakened as currencies consolidated following recent volatility.

The kiwi slipped to 75.03 US cents at 8am in Wellington, from 75.28 cents at 5pm yesterday.

The trade-weighted index fell to 76.87 from 77.10 yesterday.

Currency markets consolidated overnight following recent volatility.

The US dollar strengthened following its weakness after this week's disappointing US retail sales, while the kiwi softened after jumping following better-than-expected first quarter retail sales data yesterday.

"We saw a little bit of US dollar strength last night and that took the gloss off the NZD/USD's post-retail sales jump," said Peter Cavanaugh, client adviser at Bancorp Treasury Services.

Still, Cavanaugh said the kiwi remained above 75 US cents, so is headed for a gain from its 74.85 cent level on Monday morning.

There are no local data releases scheduled for New Zealand today.

The focus tonight will be on the first US economic data releases for May, with traders keen to see if the world's largest economy is recovering from a slower first quarter.

Scheduled May releases include the Empire New York manufacturing survey and the University of Michigan consumer confidence survey, along with industrial production for April.

The New Zealand dollar advanced to 92.82 Australian cents from 92.64 cents yesterday, slipped to 47.56 British pence from 47.78 pence, fell to 65.75 euro cents from 66.23 cents and dropped to 89.39 yen from 89.70 yen.