The New Zealand dollar was on the wane today, eclipsed by a rising US dollar, and looked set to head back towards US58c.
At 5pm the New Zealand dollar was buying US58.28c from US58.48c yesterday, while the aussie was at US66.96c (US67.05c).
One local dealer said the southern currencies suffered as the US dollar rose against the euro and yen.
"(Kiwi)'s had a reasonable range in the end ... US58.25/57c, which was the result of very large moves in the US dollar against the euro and the yen," he said.
"(The euro) did actually break out of a trend line yesterday but aussie and kiwi pretty much ignored that move.
"Both kiwi and aussie are performing very, very well when you consider what's happened to the euro in the last 24 hours ... (kiwi)'s finding reasonable support."
He picked kiwi to drift down to US58c overnight, trading between US57.98c and US58.60c.
In Tokyo the yen dropped to a two-week low against the greenback today as Japanese government bond (JGB) prices fell sharply, while the euro dropped to its lowest level in more than a month against the dollar.
The euro dropped to a low of $US1.1585, down almost 2 per cent below its level at the same time on Wednesday.
"For yen bears, falls in JGBs are a perfect excuse to sell the yen, although we know that bond prices are falling globally, not only in Japan," a Japanese trader said.
The greenback was also bought back as the market is turning increasingly doubtful about the outlook for the euro.
In Wellington at 5pm the euro plummeted to $US1.1632 from $US1.1790 last night, while the US dollar was buying 118.58 yen (118.09 yen).
On the crosses at 5pm the kiwi was buying A87.03c (A87.20c last night), 69.08 yen (69.05 yen), 34.77 pence (34.69), 0.7751 Swiss francs (0.7650), and 0.5010 euro (0.4958).
The monetary conditions index was at plus 201 (194), the trade-weighted index was at 61.60 (61.51) and 90-day bank bill yields were unchanged at 5.21 per cent.
The February 2005 yields were at 4.75 per cent (4.74), the November 2006s were at 4.80 per cent (4.78), and the November 2011s were at 5.16 per cent (5.09).
- NZPA
<i>Currency:</i> Kiwi eclipsed by rising US dollar
AdvertisementAdvertise with NZME.