The New Zealand dollar slipped to a five-month low against the United States dollar tonight as new data showed economic growth is at the bottom end of expectations.
The data followed worse-than-expected current account data on Wednesday, which dampened any hopes of further interest rate rises.
At 5pm, the kiwi was buying US67.34c from US68.28c at yesterday's close, after trading at a range of US67.34-US67.91 during the session.
Official figures out today showed the New Zealand economy expanded at a subdued clip in the September quarter.
Gross Domestic Product (GDP) figures, released by Statistics New Zealand, showed the economy grew by just 0.2 per cent in the September quarter, half the rate expected by economists, and well down on the June quarter's revised 1.2 per cent tally.
In the quarter, the economy grew a weaker-than-expected 2.3 per cent compared with a year earlier, down from a revised 2.7 per cent in the second quarter.
The market had expected annual growth of 2.4 per cent.
Economists expect further slowing into 2006.
The kiwi also hit a two-month low against the Australian dollar, the yen, and a three-month low against the euro .
The following are Reuters currency rates:
5pm today 5pm Wednesday
NZ dlr/US dlr US67.34 US68.28
NZ dlr/Aust dlr A91.90 A92.94
NZ dlr/euro 0.5692 0.5752
NZ dlr/yen 79.08 79.93
NZ dlr/stg 38.61 38.90
NZ TWI 69.66 70.46
Australian dollar US73.26 US73.48c
Euro/US dollar US1.1829 US1.1872
US dollar/yen 117.45 117.11
- NZPA
<EM>Currency:</EM> Kiwi hits 5-month low against greenback
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