The New Zealand dollar benefited from positive employment figures released today, pushing the kiwi up by nearly a cent against the Australian dollar.
Still buoyed by strong retail figures yesterday, the kiwi got a double boost today from healthy employment figures here and weaker job figures across the Tasman.
While the aussie slid half a US cent after the disappointing jobs report there, the kiwi rose to a four-month high of A82.40c, almost A1c higher than yesterday's close.
Deutsche Bank dealer Phil Lindberg said today's move was significant.
"The kiwi's been pretty much bid (correct) all day and it hasn't backed off too far.
"When the aussie started coming under pressure, we then saw stocks in the kiwi-aussie being triggered and it was certainly a major mover on the day."
Against the US dollar, the kiwi climbed to a three-month high of US42.50c, after trading a US42.32c-42.50c range on good volumes.
It jumped from US42.06c at yesterday's close to finish at US42.41c shortly after 5pm.
A major catalyst was thought to be New Zealand's unemployment figures, which fell in the June quarter to a 13-year-low of 5.2 percent.
In contrast, the Australian dollar closed on US51.63c after July labour force data showed Australia had an unemployment rate of 6.9 and the largest ever full-time employment fall on record.
Mr Lindberg said the kiwi had the potential to go higher.
"The aussie still looks a little bit vulnerable whereas the kiwi remains pretty well bid, so I think there's potential where we could test higher but certainly getting to levels where I suspect that we will start to attract some profit taking."
Another local dealer said the kiwi had broken a four-year downward trend against the greenback when it smashed key resistance at US42.20c.
It was into new territory on the charts, he said.
The US dollar was under pressure from other currencies, losing ground after the US Federal Reserve released data showing growth was the weakest in eight years.
It eased against the euro which stood at US88.13c compared to US87.75c at yesterday's close.
On the crosses at 5pm, the kiwi traded at A82.19c (A81.44c at yesterday's close), 52.55 yen (51.95), 29.99 pence (29.68), 0.9412 marks (0.9372), 0.7239 Swiss francs (0.7220) and 0.4813 euros (0.4791). The Australian dollar was at $NZ1.2167 from yesterday's close of $NZ1.2279.
The trade-weighted index strengthened to 50.85 (50.43), and with the 90-day bills at 5.75 percent (5.82) the monetary conditions index tightened to minus 697 (minus 738).
Among the bonds, the March 2002s were at 5.68 percent (5.70), the April 2004s fell to 6.13 percent (6.25), the November 2006s fell to 6.30 percent (6.45), and the November 2011s sank to 6.45 percent (6.63).
- NZPA
<i>Currency:</i> Jobs data gives kiwi the edge
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