NZ dollar falls against greenback

File photo / NZ Herald

The New Zealand dollar has remained weak in the wake of New Zealand's weaker than expected gross domestic product (GDP) data released yesterday.

The currency was well off the highs it reached earlier in the week and had lost most of its steam, said BNZ's currency strategist Mike Jones.

However, the GDP announcement should only have a short-term impact, he said.

"Whether or not the weakness we see in the Kiwi now continues really depends on US dollar sentiment," he said.

The market was "fairly lacklustre" and the NZ dollar was treading water depending on off-shore sentiment.

The NZ dollar was at US72.76c at 5pm from US73.01c at 8am and US73.23c at 5pm yesterday. It had attempted something of a recovery during the early hours of the morning, getting to around US73.35c, then falling away again.

The NZ dollar was little changed at 0.5463 euro at 5pm from 0.5466 at the same time yesterday, and was 61.98 yen from 61.94 yesterday. The trade weighted index fell to 66.39 at 5pm from 66.58 yesterday.

Soft Asian stock markets also gave investors a reason to take profits.

The yen was near its highest level against the US dollar since Japan intervened last week to knock the yen down and the US dollar remains under pressure from recent signal by the Federal Reserve that it is prepared to print money.

The euro retreated from a five-month high against the US dollar, hobbled by worries about Ireland's economy and banks, while the greenback fell to its lowest against the yen since the Bank of Japan intervened on September 15 to weaken the currency.

- NZPA