Kiwi dollar gains on US jobs figures

The New Zealand dollar overnight regained some of its lost ground against the greenback on the back of poor employment data in the US.

The kiwi was worth US70.05c at 5pm yesterday. It hit a low of US69.82c in the European session but then followed the major currencies up to a high of US70.50c overnight before dropping back to be worth US70.43c at 8am today.

Following yesterday's brief dip the kiwi found overnight support from all quarters, said ANZ senior markets economist Koon Goh.

It remained on the back foot until early morning trading when worse than expected US economic data, on jobless numbers, saw the US dollar ease, he said.

Against other currencies the NZ dollar was worth A78.21c, up from A78.13c yesterday, up to 0.5171 euro from 0.5160 euro yesterday and up to 64.21 Japanese yen, from 63.68 yen yesterday.

It was also up to 45.09p against the British pound from 44.74p yesterday.

The trade weighted index rose to 65.23 from 65.01.

Meanwhile, overnight the US dollar rallied the euro on Thursday in a volatile session, as mixed data highlighted the fragility of the US economy but failed to offset the greater concern on the outlook for the euro zone.

Demand for the greenback fell following an unexpected jump in weekly US jobless claims, while the government separately reported a higher-than-expected rise in January producer prices.

In mid afternoon trading in New York, the euro was 0.1 per cent lower at $1.3592, after climbing earlier as high as $1.3653. The session low was $1.3540.

Sterling fell 0.5 per cent against the dollar to $1.5599 after figures showed public sector net borrowing at 4.339 billion pounds last month, the first January deficit since records began in 1993.

The dollar fell 0.1 per cent to 91.30 yen while the euro lost 0.1 per cent to 124.15 yen, with analysts saying the BOJ disappointed some who had speculated there might be further monetary easing steps.

- NZPA