Currency: Dollar treads water around US65c

The New Zealand dollar spent the last day of June treading water around US65c, having regained much of the ground lost during the month.

A solid rise in equities on Wall Street, and demand for the euro and Australian dollar, helped buoy the kiwi today, a dealer said. The currency traded between US64.94c and US65.49c.

"Once Asia came in, we saw a bit of buying around the US65c," he said. However, selling capped a decent move above US65.20c.

An improvement in business sentiment in the latest National Bank Business Outlook survey released today made little impact on the kiwi.

A net 6 per cent of respondents in the June survey expect general business conditions to improve during the next 12 months, up 4 percentage points on May.

Also today, the Reserve Bank of NZ said that inflation was not currently considered a threat to the economy, but could return to the fore when the global economy recovers.

By 5pm, the kiwi was at US65.16c, up from US64.35c late yesterday afternoon. It had risen to A80.52c against the aussie, from A80.25c.

The kiwi remained near seven-month highs against the euro, and gained against the yen and sterling.

The US dollar and yen slipped today as risk appetite improved on the back of higher oil prices, healthy equities and improved sentiment in the euro zone.

The Australian dollar, a commodity-backed currency, benefited from the jump in oil prices above US$73 ($113.47) a barrel to a nearly eight-month high.

Reuters currency rates:

NZ dlr/US dlr US65.16c US64.35c

NZ dlr/Aust dlr A80.52c A80.25c

NZ dlr/euro 0.4619 0.4586

NZ dlr/yen 62.39 61.42

NZ dlr/stg 39.18p 39.05p

NZ TWI 61.27 60.72

Aust dlr/US dlr 80.91c 80.15c

Euro/US dlr 1.4108 1.4028

US dlr/yen 95.77 95.48

- NZPA