The New Zealand dollar clawed back above US71c today after the greenback sank on concerns the US Federal Reserve may be about to signal an end to its 18-month rate-tightening cycle.
Few local factors affected the kiwi which closed on US71.05c against US70.62c yesterday
Talk of further uridashi issuance in the pipeline helped underpin the kiwi. Overnight, General Electric issues $200 million of a 2009 bond.
The Fed meeting tomorrow (NZT) is widely expected to bump up its key rate for a 13th straight meeting to 4.25 per cent.
But market opinion is mixed about whether the central bank in its post-meeting statement will stop using wording indicating policy has a tightening bias, meaning the widening of the dollar's rate advantage over the euro and the yen is near an end.
The dollar's widening rate advantage has been a key driver of the currency's rally of about 17 per cent against the yen and 14 per cent versus the euro this year.
The Australian dollar closed up at US75.90c from US75.19c here yesterday while the kiwi-Australian cross rose to A94.02c from A93.8c.
The following are Reuters currency rates:
5pm today 5pm Monday
NZ dlr/US dlr US71.05 US70.62
NZ dlr/Aust dlr A94.02 A93.87
NZ dlr/euro 0.5942 0.5965
NZ dlr/yen 85.10 85.31
NZ dlr/stg 40.01 40.11
NZ TWI 73.04 73.00
Australian dollar US75.60c US75.19c
Euro/US dollar US1.1962 US1.1841
US dollar/yen 119.72 120.81
<EM>Currency:</EM> Kiwi pushes back above US71c
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