Currency: Kiwi falls on trade data

The New Zealand dollar took a hit today on worse than expected trade numbers.

New Zealand posted a trade deficit of $935 million in January, more than double the median $400m expected by economists.

For the year to January, the deficit swelled to $7.1 billion -- or 23 percent of exports, compared with a consensus estimate of $6.5 billion. As a percentage of exports, this was the largest deficit for a January year since the oil crisis of 1976.

The New Zealand dollar fell as low as US65.73c after the data, from US66.26c at 8.30am, but staged a partial recovery to end the local session at US65.92c.

It also slipped against the aussie dollar falling from A89.59c at 8.30am to A89.19c at 5pm.

Economists said the trade data was consistent with a slowing domestic economy.

"The trends underneath this data suggest it's far from the end of the line as far as the trade deficit is concerned," Bank of New Zealand senior economist Craig Ebert said.

Tomorrow, building consents for January and the National Bank's business outlook are due out.

On the international front, US data due out this week includes monthly manufacturing figures and the Fed's favoured inflation gauge.

The yen rallied on hopes the Bank of Japan would soon scrap its ultra-loose monetary policy and eventually raise interest rates.

5pm today 5pm Friday

NZ dlr US65.92c US66.26c
NZ dlr/Aust dlr A89.19c A89.57c
NZ dlr/euro 0.5556 0.5557
NZ dlr/yen 76.38 77.31
NZ dlr/stg 37.79p 37.82p
NZ TWI 67.87 68.19
Australian dollar US73.90 US73.98c
Euro/US dollar US1.1865 US1.1925
US dollar/yen 115.86 116.70

- NZPA