The New Zealand dollar rose slightly today on short-covering ahead of US non-farm payrolls data and continued to trade near a decade low against the Australian dollar.
The NZ dollar was US68.76c at 5pm, up from US68.60c at 8am but down from the US68.99c at 5pm yesterday. It traded as low as US68.54c during the domestic session.
"Kiwi has probably strengthened a bit on the day. It looks like the market is short and a few people are squaring up ahead of US non-farm payrolls data tonight," one dealer said.
The report is expected to show US employers cut 50,000 jobs in February, according to economists polled by Reuters.
Against the Australian dollar, the kiwi dropped to around A76.15c shortly before 7am, the lowest level since November 2000. By 5pm it was back at A76.34c, which compared with A76.39c at the same time yesterday.
The NZ dollar is expected to continue to be under pressure on the Australian cross with Australia's key cash rate at 4 per cent and the Reserve Bank of New Zealand expected to keep New Zealand's official cash rate at 2.5 per cent when it releases its monetary policy statement next week.
BNZ strategist Mike Jones said the NZ dollar was "double teamed" by deteriorating investor risk appetite and a broadly stronger US dollar.
Last night the NZ dollar dropped to a three-week low around 0.5030 euro, but lifted to 0.5058 euro by 5pm, up from 0.5041 euro at 5pm.
It also dropped to a four-week low 60.63 yen, before recovering to 61.34 yen at the local close, up from 60.99 yen at 5pm. The trade weighted index was little changed at 63.68 at 5pm from 63.64 at the same time yesterday.
- NZPA
Currency: NZ dollar firms slightly
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