The New Zealand dollar ran strongly against the Australian and US currencies today as investors hoped for an interest rate hike.
The kiwi closed today at US69.78c, the highest close in two weeks, compared to US69.56c yesterday.
Dealers said the New Zealand dollar continued to be a yield story and speculation that the Reserve Bank may raise rates to 7 per cent on October 27 was adding fuel to the fire.
"It's been a decent day," National Bank dealer Andrew Sturgeon noted.
He said that if the kiwi broke a technical barrier of US69.80c overnight, it could test US70c.
The kiwi also strode to a three-week high against the Australian dollar at A92.05c (A91.55c yesterday), after the release of some week building data in Australia yesterday and a central bank decision to hold its key interest rates steady.
Also underpinning the kiwi's strength is a huge uridashi issuance worth $1.18 billion yesterday.
Uridashis are New Zealand dollar denominated bonds sold to Japanese.
At 5pm the kiwi was at a new eight-year high against the yen -- 79.48 yen -- its strongest close since November 1997.
The following are Reuters currency rates:
5pm 5pm (Wednesday)
NZ dlr US69.78c US69.56c
NZ dlr/Aust dlr A92.05c A91.55c
NZ dlr/euro 0.5788 0.5825
NZ dlr/yen 79.48 79.22
NZ dlr/stg 39.37p 39.48p
NZ TWI 70.93 70.86
Australian dollar US75.77c US75.98c
Euro/US dollar US1.2054 US1.1939
US dollar/yen 113.87 113.92
- NZPA
<EM>Currency:</EM> Kiwi outpaces the aussie, greenback
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