The New Zealand dollar bounced from a four-month low, though faces more downside pressure with local employment figures and Australian consumer spending data later in the week.
The kiwi rose to 81.16 US cents at 5pm in Wellington from 80.73 cents at 8am, and 80.85 cents on Friday in New York. It fell as low as 80.61 cents last Friday, the lowest since Sept. 11. The trade-weighted index was little changed at 77.09 from 77.20 at the New York close.
Investors' appetite for the kiwi has dimmed since the Reserve Bank kept the official cash rate at 2.5 percent last week, disappointing some traders who'd been betting on a rise, and as concerns about emerging markets encouraged a return to safe-haven assets. Chinese manufacturing figures showed the weakest reading in six months.
Governor Graeme Wheeler last week said the bank will be monitoring the economic data as he prepares to hikes interest rates, and employment figures on Wednesday could change the market view as it's a notoriously volatile data series. Australian retail sales on Thursday could also break the kiwi out of its recent range, with the local market closed for the Waitangi Day holiday and reducing liquidity.
"The kiwi's still in the zone, just hanging on to the range since September," said Alex Hill, head of dealing at HiFX in Auckland. "It looks like more downside is not that far away."
