KEY POINTS:
The New Zealand dollar was generally lower today with dealers citing strength in the US dollar and selling by carry trade players.
By 5pm today the kiwi was buying US69.59c at 5pm from US69.97c at 8am and US70.52c at 5pm on Friday.
"There was a little bit of selling first off from carry traders on the Asian open," said Murray Hindley, chief foreign exchange dealer at ANZ Institutional Bank.
"They were selling aussie-yen and kiwi-yen and it's remained weak basically for the remainder of our session," he said.
The pound fell sharply after Chancellor of the Exchequer Alistair Darling told the Guardian newspaper on Saturday that Britain's economic downturn might turn out to be the worst in 60 years.
That helped push the US dollar higher as did a report showing business activity in the US Midwest expanded at a far more robust rate than expected as new orders jumped.
At today's local close, the kiwi was buying 0.4756 euro from 0.4780 at 5pm on Friday, and 75.50 yen from 76.85.
Against the aussie, the NZ dollar was at A81.55c around 5pm from A81.45c at 5pm on Friday. The trade weighted index dropped to 65.22 from 65.73.
Bank of New Zealand currency strategist Danica Hampton said that with little data due out in New Zealand this week, events across the Tasman would probably be the main focus.
The Reserve Bank of Australia was widely expected to cut rates 25 basis points to 7 per cent tomorrow, she said.
But with data suggesting the Australian economy was not slowing as sharply as many had feared, market participants may be overestimating the scope of future Australian rate cuts.
Reuters currency rates:
NZ dlr/US dlr US69.59c US70.52c
NZ dlr/Aust dlr A81.55c A81.45c
NZ dlr/euro 0.4756 0.4780
NZ dlr/yen 75.50 76.85
NZ dlr/stg 38.60p 38.47p
NZ TWI 65.22 65.73
Australian dollar US85.30c US86.58c
Euro/US dollar 1.4632 1.4755
US dollar/yen 108.53 109.02
- NZPA
