KEY POINTS:
The New Zealand dollar gained against the greenback and other major currencies in local trading today, but dealers expect the kiwi's downtrend to continue.
The kiwi was on US61.81c at 5pm today - up from its opening level and low of the day US61.05c, having traded as high as US62.17c.
BNZ currency strategist Danica Hampton said against a backdrop of slowing global growth, the New Zealand recession and further Reserve Bank interest rate cuts, the kiwi should fall further in coming months.
BNZ forecasts have the NZ dollar troughing at US57c in the first half of 2009.
"But the risks are skewed in favour of the currency falling further than our current forecasts," she said.
In its commentary today, ANZ said the market was expected to position for an aggressive Reserve Bank interest rate cut next week while "rollercoaster moves" continued in intraday trading.
Against the Australian dollar, the kiwi was down to A89.10c at 5pm from A89.92c at 8am and A90.87c at 5pm Thursday.
But the NZ dollar gained against the European and Japanese currencies, buying 0.4590 euros and 62.74 yen at 5pm, compared with 0.4545 euros and 61.62 yen at 8am.
The trade weighted index firmed to 61.11 from 60.63 at 8am and 5pm Thursday.
The US dollar edged up against the euro and a basket of currencies after choppy trade today as investors remained deeply concerned about global recession despite a sharp US share rebound, and sought the safety of the world's most liquid currency.
Earlier in the day, the US dollar had dropped against the euro and the yen on selling from short-term speculative accounts, but worries that worldwide efforts to rescue troubled banks will not stave off a global recession helped the dollar erase losses, Tokyo traders said.
Currency rates:
NZ dlr/US dlr US61.81c US61.05c
NZ dlr/Aust dlr A89.10c A90.87c
NZ dlr/euro 0.4590 0.4530
NZ dlr/yen 62.74 61.10
NZ dlr/stg 35.64p 35.28p
NZ TWI 61.11 60.63
Australian dollar US69.36c US67.29c
Euro/US dollar 1.3467 1.3469
US dollar/yen 101.57 100.19
- NZPA
