The New Zealand dollar shed 46 basis points against its Australian counterpart today, but managed to hold ground against the US dollar, a dealer said.
At 5pm, the kiwi was at A90.90c (from A91.28c at the same time yesterday), having traded between A90.76c and A91.40c today.
It began today's session 46 basis points higher at A91.36c.
A National Bank spokesman said the kiwi-aussie's plunge came after the release of Australian employment data.
Unemployment in Australia remained at its 28-year low of 5.1 per cent, seasonally adjusted, but total employment increased 44,500 to an adjusted 9.8 million.
Market watchers had expected a 5000 rise in total job numbers.
"That (data) lit a fire under the aussie... which had the effect of dropping the kiwi-aussie," the dealer said.
Other market watchers described the aussie as "rampant" in the wake of the data release, pushing the aussie-US cross up about 52 basis points during today's session.
The aussie was at US77.55c (US76.44c), the greenback was at 105.64 yen (105.67), and the euro was at US$1.2815 (US$1.2758).
Meanwhile, the kiwi was buying 0.5500 euro (0.5470), 37.89 British pence (37.65) 74.46 yen (73.74) and 0.8571 Swiss francs (0.8535).
The monetary conditions index was unchanged at plus 937 (906), while the trade weighted index (TWI ) was at 69.08 (68.70).
On the money markets, 90-day bank bill yields were at 6.84 per cent (6.81), November 2006 bond yields unmoved at 6.37 per cent, July 2009s were static at 6.08 per cent, and April 2015s were at 5.89 per cent (5.91).
- NZPA
<EM>Currency:</EM> Kiwi-Aussie cross dumps 46 basis points
AdvertisementAdvertise with NZME.