Kiwi dips below US75c, up against Aussie

The New Zealand dollar eased against the US dollar today, after the Reserve Bank released its annual report saying the economic recovery is proving "brittle, uncertain, and full of surprises".

The kiwi slipped to US74.96c at 5pm from US75.52c at 8am and US75.48c at 5pm yesterday.

BNZ markets strategist Mike Jones said the kiwi started the local trading session on the back foot on a short-covering bounce in the US dollar and dribbled lower to just below US75c during the day.

The Reserve Bank reiterating the recovery would be slower and lower, and the pace of interest rate increases would be more muted over the next year or so, "knocked a little wind out of the kiwi's sails," he told NZPA.

He said the aussie dollar was treading water against the US dollar today, as traders awaited tonight's Federal Reserve minutes and any indication of further quantitative easing that had been the driving force for currencies lately.

Mr Jones added that some Australian business data out today had been a bit lower than expectations and that saw the kiwi gain about 20 basis points against the aussie.

The kiwi-aussie cross rate at 5pm stood at A76.57c, from A76.40c at 8am, while the aussie slipped against the greenback to US97.94 from US98.59c.

The NZ dollar lost ground against other major currencies today from 0.5424 euro at 8am to 0.5403 and from 61.82 yen to 61.38.

The trade weighted index slipped to 66.70 at 5pm from 66.93 at 8am and 66.95 yesterday.

- NZPA