The New Zealand dollar's direction this week is likely to be dominated by talks between Greece and private creditors about a debt swap plan needed to prevent the country from default and the Reserve Bank's official cash rate review on Thursday.
The New Zealand dollar recently traded at 62.61 euro cents, up from 61.83 cents on Friday at 5pm. That is right in the middle of a largely unchanged forecast range of 61.2 euro cents to 63 cents, according to a BusinessDesk survey of four analysts.
The kiwi was trading at 80.62 US cents at 11 a.m., up from 80.48 cents at 8.30 a.m. and 80.13 cents on Friday. The kiwi is likely to finish the week higher trading in a range of 81.5 cents and 79.4 cents, analysts say.
The local unit rose as investors fled the euro after talks between Greek officials and private creditors stalled amid speculation progress was beginning to take shape over the weekend. Talks broke down in Athens as Greek officials meet to consult with European Union. Greece must strike a deal with bondholders to finance a 14.5 billion euro bond payment on March 20 to stave off the risk of default, which could potentially trigger its exit from the euro. There was hope a deal would be finalised before a key meeting today between euro zone finance ministers.
"There was some excitement that there might be an answer at the close of business on Friday but that didn't happen - therefore the euro sagged a bit in the opening this morning," said Imre Speizer, market strategist at Westpac Banking Corp.
