The New Zealand dollar temporarily fell below psychological support at US70c today as the recent string of weak local economic data weighed on the unit in an otherwise quiet session.
By 5pm the kiwi was buying US70.08c, from US70.04c at 8.30am today and US70.60c at yesterday's local close. Its range for the day was US69.92c to US70.22c.
An Auckland dealer said despite the kiwi's shortlived dip below US70c, "there's not much that's too exciting".
"Obviously we've had enough soft data over the last week or so to see a bit of a negative tone to the kiwi but everything else has sagged as well so the TWI (trade weighted index) hasn't slipped that much."
At 5pm the TWI was at 70.58 (70.81 at 5pm yesterday).
Also adding to the kiwi's weaker tone today was the US dollar's rise to touch a three-week high against the yen of 110.17. By 5pm in Wellington, it was buying 110.00 (109.64), while the euro was buying US$1.2068 (US$1.2160).
The greenback has gained in the run up to the US Federal Reserve meeting on Friday (New Zealand time) where the Fed is expected to raises key interest rate by 25 basis points to 3.25 per cent.
Elsewhere, the Australian dollar was buying US76.34 (US76.80c).
On its crosses, the kiwi buying A91.78c (A91.96c), 38.56 British pence (38.68), 0.5809 euro (0.5807), 0.8972 Swiss francs (0.8961) and 77.10 yen (77.42) and the monetary conditions index was at plus 1062 (1081).
On the money markets, 90-day bank bill yields were at 7.03 per cent (7.04), July 2009 bonds were at 5.85 per cent (5.81), while April 2015s were at 5.73 per cent (5.68).
- NZPA
<EM>Currency</EM>: Kiwi dips below US70c
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