Currency: Kiwi falls as aussie takes hammering

The New Zealand dollar retreated from the US72c level during local trade today as its Australian counterpart took a beating on the forex market.

The kiwi opened locally this morning at its high for the day of US71.93c having yet again come close to its US72.75c post float high overnight.

However, by 5pm in Wellington today the kiwi was at its lows, buying US71.39c, more than one per cent lower than its US72.21c local close yesterday.

ANZ Investment Bank senior dealer Mark Elliott said the kiwi was following the aussie lower.

"(The) aussie's broken some technical support and is getting pretty heavily hammered at the moment."

The Australian dollar was buying US76.65c at 5pm from US77.58c at the same time yesterday.

Mr Elliott said while the euro had continued to burst through highs in recent sessions, the aussie had not followed.

" It's lost upside momentum", he said.

The Reserve Bank of Australia today left its official cash rate unchanged at 5.25 per cent as widely anticipated.

Mr Elliott said today's move lower by the kiwi was " the start of a corrective move which over the next week or two or three is probably going to see it back into the US69.50-US70.50c window."

Mr Elliott still expected the kiwi to climb as high as US75c to US80c some time next year.

Meanwhile, the US dollar was buying 103.11 yen compared to its 102.75 close here yesterday.

On the crosses, the kiwi was at A93.15c (A93.04c), 0.5329 euro (0.5379), 36.76 British pence (37.18), 73.63 yen (74.26), and 0.8165 Swiss francs (0.8217).

The trade-weighted index was at 68.88 (69.42), and the monetary conditions index was at plus 906.

On the money market, 90-day bank bill yields were at 6.68 per cent (6.67) February 2006 bonds were on 6.23 per cent (6.24). The July 2009s were at 5.95 per cent (5.97) and April 2013s were unchanged at 5.95 per cent.

- NZPA