Currency: Dollar steadies after fall against US

The New Zealand dollar consolidated today after dropping half a cent on Tuesday night as the US dollar rose.

The NZ dollar was worth US64.44c at 5pm, little changed from US64.52c at 8am, and down from US65.16c at 5pm yesterday.

It tumbled overnight to a low of US64.35c.

The US dollar rose after a report showing an unexpected drop in US consumer confidence for June drove US stocks lower and dampened hopes for an early worldwide recovery.

BNZ said profit-taking from short-term speculators also weighed on the NZ dollar.

The tightening of monetary conditions care of a higher NZ dollar and rising interest rates is seen as a threat to the local economy.

Analysts also continue to see big maturities of foreign bonds issued in NZ dollars this month as a downward pressure on the NZ dollar.

The NZ dollar was driven down against the Australian dollar overnight and by 5pm today was A79.95c, down from A80.52c at 5pm on Tuesday.

The Australian dollar itself was little changed after better-than-expected retail sales were offset by surprisingly weak building approvals.

The NZ dollar dipped to 0.4592 euros from 0.4619 yesterday, and was little changed at 62.40 yen from 62.39.

The trade weighted index dropped to 60.89 from 61.27.

Currency rates:

5pm today 5pm yesterday

NZ dlr/US dlr US64.44c US65.16c
NZ dlr/Aust dlr A79.95c A80.52c
NZ dlr/euro 0.4592 0.4619
NZ dlr/yen 62.40 62.39
NZ dlr/stg 39.23 39.18p
NZ TWI 60.89 61.27
Aust dlr/US dlr 80.55c 80.91c
Euro/US dlr 1.4032 1.4108
US dlr/yen 96.82 95.77

- NZPA