NZ dollar pushes higher

The New Zealand dollar pushed up to its highest level in more than a week against major currencies as strong data boosted hopes for a firmer global economic recovery.

Overnight on Friday, stronger than expected Canadian jobless figures mirrored robust jobs data from Australia last week.

The NZ dollar peaked around US71.15c early Saturday after an erratic night during which the kiwi twice spiked briefly down to near US70.60c from US71c at 5pm on Friday.

ANZ bank said the NZ dollar was buoyed by positive equity moves, with decent rallies in equity markets across the globe, building on gains earlier in the week.

It appeared as if the bout of negative sentiment that gripped markets in June was well overdone, ANZ said.

There was nothing like a couple of strong jobs numbers in key barometer markets such as Australia and Canada to help swing the pendulum further.

By 8am today, the NZ dollar was at 0.5631 euro from 0.5597 at 5pm on Friday, and was barely changed against the Australian dollar at A81.03c.

The kiwi was up to 63.10 yen at 8am from 62.91 at Friday's local close after the hopeful global economic indicators raised pressure on the low-yielding yen, as investors cut long positions and shifted into more volatile currencies such as the aussie and kiwi.

The trade weighted index was up to 67.54 at 8am today from 67.36 at 5pm on Friday.

- NZPA