The New Zealand dollar ended today's local session little moved by reaction to yesterday's budget.
At 5pm today the kiwi was trading at US71.00c, from US71.14c, at 5pm yesterday.
"The reality is that given the very stable fiscal environment in New Zealand, external factors, such as the terms of trade and the currency, and Reserve Bank action have more of an impact on the NZ dollar than fiscal factors," BNZ currency strategic Sue Trinh commented.
Meanwhile, the United States dollar enjoyed broad-based gains today despite the Philadelphia Federal Reserve's index for business conditions in its region in May slumping to 7.3, almost a two-year low, from 25.3 in April. Economists had expected the headline index to fall to 19.0.
Together with a surprisingly weak regional manufacturing report from the New York Fed earlier in the week, the data raises concerns about a broader slowdown in the manufacturing sector, a key engine of the US economy.
But it did nothing to dent market expectations that the Federal Reserve would keep raising rates at a steady pace, supporting the US dollar as the interest rate advantage over other major currencies continues to widen.
US rates stand at 3 percent, compared with virtually zero in Japan, 2 percent in the euro zone and 6.75 percent in New Zealand.
The greenback was buying 107.55 yen (107.09) at 5pm and the euro was buying $US1.2635 ($US1.2675).
The Australian dollar was at US75.92c (US75.87c).
On the crosses, the kiwi was buying A93.54c (A93.74c), 0.5618 euro (0.5612), 76.37 yen (76.18), 38.66 British pence (38.65), and 0.8677 Swiss francs (0.8661).
The trade-weighted index was at 70.41 (70.43), while the monetary conditions index was unchanged at 1053.
On the money markets, 90-day bank bill yields were at 7.05 percent (7.04), the July 2009s were at 5.94 percent (5.90), while the April 2015s at 5.84 percent (5.79).
- NZPA
<EM>Currency:</EM> Kiwi little moved in budget aftermath
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