Dairy auction underpins kiwi dollar

Photo / Dean Purcell

The New Zealand dollar ended its gains since Christmas as the price of many global commodities dipped.

That was despite Queensland flooding having flow-on effects to prices of coking coal and wheat, and a jump in global milk powder prices in Fonterra's auction overnight.

The broader downward trend damped demand for commodity-linked currencies, while upbeat American data stoked support for the greenback.

The Thomson Reuters/Jefferies CRB Index, which measures the price of 19 raw materials, dropped 1.7 per cent as traders looked to calm what's been a volatile market over the Christmas and New Year holiday period.

That helped push the kiwi, Australian and Canadian dollars lower, though New Zealand's currency was supported by a 7.1 per cent jump in the trade-weighted price of dairy products on Fonterra Cooperative Group's online trading platform.

The US dollar gained amid more upbeat data in the world's biggest economy, with an improvement in factory orders and manufacturing indices.

"There was a sharp correction in commodity prices as traders got back to their desks and took the view that commodity gains looked overstretched," said Mike Jones, strategist at Bank of New Zealand.

"There's a feeling in the market that it could be a little bit long in the kiwi dollar" and it may grind lower over the next few days, he said.

The kiwi fell to 76.79 US cents from 76.93 cents yesterday, and declined to 68.84 on the trade-weighted index of major trading partners' currencies from 68.95.

It slipped to 62.96 yen from 63.15 yen yesterday, and was little changed at 76.23 Australian cents from 76.27 cents.

It dropped to 49.25 pence from 49.69 pence yesterday, and was little changed at 57.63 euro cents from 57.64 cents.

Jones said the currency may trade between 76.40 US cents and 77.20 cents today, with little driving markets until Friday, when US non-farm payrolls data is due, along with Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke's testimony to a Senate committee.

The minutes from the December meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee showed the members were still concerned about inflation and unemployment in the US, and were happy to stick with the current policy settings and level of quantitative easing.