Kiwi dollar rises strongly on good US jobs data

The New Zealand dollar rose strongly after a report showed United States employers cut fewer jobs than expected last month, boosting hopes a US economic recovery is on track.

The renewed optimism encouraged investors to buy stocks and high-yield currencies such as the NZ and Australian dollars.

Around 8am today the kiwi was at US69.66c against the greenback, from US68.76c at 5pm on Friday.

The NZ dollar was also up to 62.98 yen at today's local open from 61.34, and rose to 0.5115 euro from 0.5058 at Friday's local close.

From its lowest level against the aussie in more than nine years on Friday morning around A76.10c, according to Reuters data, the NZ dollar was up to A76.87c at 8am today. The trade weighted index rose to 64.49 at 8am today from 63.68 at 5pm on Friday.

BNZ strategist Mike Jones said the having spent most of last week drifting lower against the US dollar, the kiwi found its feet on Friday to end the week more or less where it started.

After spending most of last week hamstrung by its weakness against the aussie, sentiment towards the NZ dollar recovered on Friday night, said Jones.

This week a packed local event calendar should see the NZ dollar's focus shift from offshore to local developments.

BNZ's economists expect the Reserve Bank to stay on message when it publishes its Monetary Policy Statement on Thursday, affirming its mid-year focal point for starting to increase the official cash rate.

- NZPA