The New Zealand dollar closed on its lows today as the US dollar firmed against the euro and yen in choppy trading.
At 5pm the kiwi was buying US69.73c, down on both its local open of US69.95c and last night's local close of US69.83c.
Locally, traders were still digesting yesterday's trade data, which showed the June quarter deficit swelled to $2.85 billion, $1 billion higher than the March and June 2004 quarters. Economists estimate the deficit amounts to 8 per cent of GDP, up from market expectations of 7.5 per cent.
By contrast, Crown financial accounts published by Treasury today show the Government books are very well placed by one measure and by others awash in a massive surplus.
The government fiscal surplus for the year to June came in at $6.25 billion from a forecast of $5.78 billion in last month's pre-election fiscal and economic update.
The higher surplus was driven by an above forecast tax take on the back of strong economic growth.
In offshore trading the US dollar climbed against the yen and the euro in choppy trade, although it was capped by nervousness about the potential damage to the US economy from another monster hurricane churning towards the Gulf Coast.
The following are Reuters currency rates:
5pm (Wednesday)
NZ dlr US69.73c US69.83c
NZ dlr/Aust dlr A90.73c A90.74c
NZ dlr/euro 0.5715 0.5732
NZ dlr/yen 77.95 78.06
NZ dlr/stg 38.58p 38.71p
NZ TWI 70.11 70.27
Australian dollar US76.87c US76.97c
Euro/US dollar US1.2204 US1.2186
US dollar/yen 111.80 111.78
- NZPA
<EM>Currency:</EM> Kiwi ends on its lows
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