KEY POINTS:
The New Zealand dollar fell to a four-month low today as the United States currency rallied broadly after a report on US April retail sales beat forecasts.
The kiwi closed on its session low at US76.27c, around half a cent down on yesterday's US76.82c close.
Bank of New
Zealand currency strategist Danica Hampton said lingering concerns about a sharp slowdown in the New Zealand economy continued to push the kiwi down against the greenback.
First quarter retail sales figures tomorrow are expected to confirm a retail slowdown seen in earlier partial indicators and recent nasty sales reports from Briscoe and The Warehouse, she said.
Against the Australian dollar, the kiwi was buying A81.25c unchanged from 5pm yesterday.
Australia's budget got a generally good reception and was seen as a slight fiscal tightening.
Westpac New Zealand market strategist Michael Gordon said the budget was slightly more inflationary friendly than expected, "perhaps a bit of a surprise with the size of the spending cuts, which helped with the healthy surplus overall".
The New Zealand dollar trade weighted index fell to 68.42 from 68.63 yesterday.
Currency rates:
Australia........... 0.8201 0.8045
Bahrain............. 0.2914 0.2828
Canada.............. 0.7742 0.7539
Denmark............. 3.7268 3.6142
Euro................ 0.4999 0.4852
Fiji................ 1.1546 1.1210
French Polynesia.... 60.19 58.34
Great Britain....... 0.3966 0.3869
Hong Kong........... 6.0235 5.8499
India............... 32.5273 31.4601
Japan............... 80.89 78.46
Kuwait.............. 0.2059 0.1997
Norway.............. 3.9176 3.7997
Pakistan............ 52.88 51.02
Papua New Guinea.... 2.1634 1.9648
Philippines......... 33.0668 31.7590
Samoa............... 1.9726 1.7596
Singapore........... 1.0589 1.0275
Solomon Islands..... 6.4835 4.7732
South Africa........ 5.8797 5.6914
Sweden.............. 4.6447 4.5062
Switzerland......... 0.8140 0.7888
Thailand............ 24.95 23.88
Tonga............... 1.4369 1.2996
United States....... 0.7707 0.7528
- NZPA