Kiwi creeps up on US$

Photo / File

The New Zealand dollar made small gains against the United States and Australian currencies, and pulled back a little against the euro, pound sterling and the yen as global markets waited on a politically important vote in Greece.

Greece could default on its debts as soon as next month without overseas loans, but Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou was last night awaiting a confidence vote in his bid to win backing for a new round of spending cuts, tax hikes and state asset sales needed to secure those loans.

The €12 billion ($21 billion) lifeline is needed to avoid the eurozone's first sovereign debt default, with many investors calculating the sick man among Europe's economies will not be abandoned.

The NZ dollar fell against the euro, to €0.5646 at 5pm, against €0.5668 at the same time on Monday.

The kiwi lifted to US80.96c at 5pm, compared with US80.65c on Monday. It climbed steeply from US80.43c in the early hours of the morning to US81.18c before dawn, then spent the day bouncing along, apparently driven by short-term players.

It was fractionally down against the British pound, to 49.94p at 5pm from 50.03p on Monday, but up against the yen, to 64.90 at 5pm, compared with 64.68 the previous day.

The kiwi lifted to A76.71c against the Australian dollar, compared with A76.40 at 5pm on Monday.

- NZPA