5.49pm
The kiwi climbed against the Australian dollar today, buoyed by stronger than expected domestic retail sales figures.
Westpac dealer Basil Payn said the feature of the day was the interest in the kiwi versus the Australian dollar following the release of the latest retail trade figures mid-morning. Statistics New Zealand showed seasonally adjusted retail sales were unchanged in August, better than economists' forecast of a 0.4 per cent fall.
"After retail sales we saw quite a bit of buying of kiwi against the aussie. So the kiwi spiked up A93.65c against the aussie, basically on that retail sales number being slightly stronger than expected," Mr Payn said.
At 5pm today the kiwi was buying A93.44c, compared with A92.99c at yesterday's close.
But the kiwi softened slightly against the US dollar, buying US67.76c at 5pm today compared with US67.79c at yesterday's local close, having traded between US67.56c and US67.80c during today's local session.
The US dollar declined from a three-week high against the euro after oil prices reversed earlier losses and vaulted toward record highs. Higher oil prices tend to hurt major oil importers like the United States.
The market is now awaiting US trade data for clues on how the recent rise in oil prices has affected the US economy. Economists say the US deficit probably grew to US$51.50 billion in August from US$50.15 billion in July.
Other US data due tonight includes first-time jobless claims.
At 5pm the Australian dollar was at US72.52c, compared to US72.92c at 5pm yesterday, the euro was buying US$1.2357 (from US$1.2313 at 5pm yesterday) and the US dollar was buying 109.80 yen (109.78).
On the other crosses, the kiwi was buying 0.5485 euros (0.5507), 37.77 British pence (37.88), 74.41 yen (74.44) and 0.8481 Swiss francs (0.8525).
The New Zealand dollar trade-weighted index (TWI) was at 68.41 (68.48), while the monetary conditions index was at plus 882 (884).
In the money market, 90-day bank bill yields were at 6.78 per cent (6.77 per cent). On the bond market, February 2006s were at 6.19 per cent (6.22), July 2009s were at 6.03 per cent (6.06) and April 2013s were at 6.06 per cent (6.12).
- NZPA
<i>Currency:</i> Kiwi climbs against Aussie, down slightly against greenback
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