Exporters, already experiencing severe pain, got another lashing today as the kiwi dollar nudged US67c.
The kiwi's rise was against a US dollar that slumped on fresh concerns of slowing US economic growth.
After rising through the night, the kiwi hit a 7-1/2 month high of US66.90c at 7.45am. It closed slightly easier at US66.79c, up from US66.35c at 5pm yesterday.
Against currencies of other major trading partners, the NZ dollar was also slightly up.
The Australian dollar cross closed on A88.02c from A87.90c at 5pm yesterday, while the euro cross was not much changed at 0.5286 euro from 0.5280. The trade weighted index rose to 67.22 from 67.06.
The greenback slump came after a Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia survey showed a surprise fall in business activity in the Mid-Atlantic region in October.
"This is just one additional piece of economic data that shows we're tipping toward a slowdown rather than toward a dollar-bullish scenario," said Boris Schlossberg, senior currency strategist at Forex Capital Markets in New York.
"And while (US) interest rates won't be lowered, there's virtually no chance of the Fed raising rates."
BNZ currency strategist Danica Hampton said currency markets were obsessed by the search for yield.
The kiwi was rising on hopes that the Reserve Bank will hike interest rates on Thursday. Eight out of 10 economists surveyed by Reuters expect the bank to move.
She said it was difficult to see the kiwi trading lower against the greenback. The kiwi now had good support at US66.60c and only at US67.25c would sellers emerge.
Rises against the Australian dollar were limited by the expectation that the Reserve Bank of Australia will hike its rates twice more this year.
Reuters currency rates:
5pm today 5pm Thursday
NZ dlr/US dlr US66.79c US66.35c
NZ dlr/Aust dlr A88.02c A87.90c
NZ dlr/euro 0.5286 0.5280
NZ dlr/yen 79.01 78.91
NZ dlr/stg 35.58p 35.52p
NZ TWI 67.22 67.06
Australian dollar US75.88 US75.51
Euro/US dollar 1.2637 1.2541
US dollar/yen 118.33 118.90
- NZPA
<i>Currency:</i> Export pain increases as kiwi nears US67c
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