NZ dollar drifts after hitting high

File photo / Dean Purcell

The New Zealand dollar drifted lower yesterday after rising to a two-week high over the weekend on much weaker than expected non-farm payroll data in the United States.

At 5pm the NZ dollar was at US76.22c, down from US76.71c at 8am but still above the US75.44c level at 5pm on Friday.

Trading was thin at the start of a big week for data and ahead of statements from both the New Zealand and Australian central banks.

"Australia is first up [today]. We expect the Reserve Bank of Australia to keep the cash rate unchanged," ASB said. The Reserve Bank is also expected to sit on an official cash rate at 3 per cent.

"Waiting, waiting; the cry of a batsman averse to a run, even though that is the underlying intent. In this spirit we turn to Thursday's Monetary Policy Statement. We think it is likely to play things cool, much like the OCR review did in late October," BNZ said.

The market also has to absorb New Zealand wholesale trade data today, construction volume and manufacturing data tomorrow and Overseas Trade Index data on Friday.

They all feed into the big one - the third quarter gross domestic product report - which is due on December 23.

ANZ said the currency market continues to gyrate on the "news merry-go-round".

Over the weekend the market reacted to news that US non-farm payrolls rose by 39,000 last month, much weaker than expectations for 140,000 new jobs. The US unemployment rate increased to 9.8 per cent.

Around the same time the NZ dollar dipped to a month low against the Australian dollar, to near A76.90c, then improved to be at A77.20c by 5pm yesterday.

The euro rallied sharply versus the US dollar after the weak jobs data, gaining for a third straight day, but the single currency is expected to remain under pressure as concerns about euro-zone debt problems persist.

The NZ dollar was little changed at €0.5712 at 5pm from €0.5715 at the same time on Friday and was at 63.19 from 63.16 on Friday. The trade weighted index rose to 68.65 at 5pm from 68.51 at 5pm on Friday.

- NZPA