NZ dollar up against greenback weakened by poor job data

Photo / Dean Purcell

The New Zealand dollar rose against a greenback hit by poor United States jobs data, but eased against the euro and yen.

At 8am today the kiwi was buying US73.29c from US72.76c at 5pm on Friday, after news the US economy shed twice as many jobs in July as expected added to worries about economic recovery.

Analysts said the weak jobs report, combined with a recent string of poor data may lead the US Federal Reserve to renew Treasury and mortgage bond purchases to jolt the economy.

That would drag US Treasury benchmark yields even lower and further dampen returns in US dollar-denominated assets.

"It's just not safe to hold (US) dollars. Quantitative easing is back on the table and it will push yields even lower," said Douglas Borthwick, head trader at Faros Trading LLC, in Stamford, Connecticut. "There are very few reasons out there to buy it."

BNZ markets strategist Mike Jones said US dollar weakness was the dominant driver of currency markets for now, a trend that was tending to float all boats.

ANZ said several attempts towards the downside by the NZ dollar to close out last week were thwarted by demand across the board.

The NZ dollar was slightly down to 0.5512 euro at 8am today from 0.5518 at 5pm on Friday, and eased to 62.50 yen from 62.60.

Against the Australian dollar, the kiwi was marginally higher by today's local open at A79.63c, while the trade weighted index was up to 67.22 at 8am today from 67.14 at 5pm on Friday.

- NZPA