NZ dollar soars, then gets smashed

Photo / Dean Purcell

The New Zealand dollar rose to its highest level against the greenback in nearly a year, just below US76c, before being smashed down more than a cent.

By 8am today the kiwi was buying US74.99c, below its level of US75.39c at 5pm yesterday.

Overnight, the US dollar did slip to a 15-year low versus the Japanese yen but then rebounded, while commodity prices erased gains that had pushed gold to yet a new high, as traders bet momentum had swung too far, too fast.

Driven by expectations the Federal Reserve will boost US money supply to help the anaemic economy, the US dollar slumped to an all-time low against the Swiss franc overnight.

The Australian dollar also surged to a 27-year high above US99c against the US currency, gaining an extra boost from an Australian jobs market that again exceeded expectations.

The Bank of England and the European Central Bank both stood pat on their monetary policies, reinforcing the notion the Fed is closer to another round of quantitative easing than other central banks, a move that would knock the dollar lower.

ANZ said it was difficult to say exactly what was behind the latest spike higher, but with the US dollar on the skids, it was never going to take much to gin the market up. Yesterday's surge in Australian jobs added fuel to the fire.

"There was nothing in it really for the NZD, but it went along for the ride with the EUR and AUD anyway," ANZ said.

"That said, the rally was over as quickly as it began, and profit taking soon saw all three currencies smashed, to the point where the EUR and NZD are actually lower than they were yesterday. Volatility, it seems, is the order of the day."

The NZ dollar was down to A76.42c against the aussie at 8am from A76.60c at 5pm, dropped to 0.5384 euro from 0.5416, and fell to 61.75 yen from 62.49. The trade weighted index dropped to 66.69 at 8am from 67.11 at 5pm.

-NZPA