Kiwi dollar slips against greenback

The New Zealand dollar slipped against the greenback after encouraging data in the United States prompted some profit-taking on the US currency's recent slide.

By 8am the NZ dollar was buying US74.30c from US74.63c at 5pm, falling away from a near 15-month high around US74.90c reached mid-afternoon yesterday.

The kiwi had risen after a higher-than-expected inflation rate caused investors to bring forward expectations for New Zealand's first official interest rate hike since the global financial crisis.

The US dollar had fallen about 2 per cent against a basket of major currencies during the past two weeks, and had lost about 7 per cent so far this year.

But overnight data showed new applications for jobless benefits fell to a nine-month low in the US, and New York state manufacturing reached a five-year high.

"Many major currencies have rallied to significant levels against the (US) dollar, and there's not enough momentum to sustain those moves today in the face of stronger US data," said Kathy Lien, director of research at GFT Forex in New York.

The kiwi also fell back against the Australian dollar, slipping to A80.79c at 8am from A81.05c at 5pm, and easing to 0.4978 euro from 0.4992.

The NZ dollar was also at 67.37 yen by the local open, having reached a one-year high around 67.60 yen early today from 66.79 at the local close. The trade weighted index was 66.57 at 8am from 66.79 at 5pm.

- NZPA