Kiwi drifts lower as US dollar rises

File photo / Dean Purcell

The New Zealand dollar drifted lower yesterday along with a weakening Australian dollar and weak euro.

By 5pm the NZ dollar was at US75.29c, down from US76.01c at 8am, having peaked around US76.65c early yesterday after climbing from about US75.80c mid-afternoon on Tuesday.

A sharp sell-off in US bonds pushed the US dollar to a seven-month high against the yen.

But yesterday was a "risk-off" day for the local currency, a dealer said. Equity markets were mostly weaker in the Asian time zone and the Australian dollar was also weak.

There was caution ahead of the Reserve Bank's statement today. Economists said the monetary policy implications of manufacturing and building data released yesterday were limited.

The Australian dollar fell to US98.07c at 5pm from US99.04c at the same time on Tuesday. Against the NZ dollar it was little changed at A76.72c from A76.90c on Tuesday.

The NZ dollar rose to 63.08 from 62.84 at 5pm on Tuesday, and was at €0.4786 from €0.4842 on Tuesday.

The trade weighted index was 68.20 at 5pm from 68.50 on Tuesday.

- NZPA