KEY POINTS:
The New Zealand dollar fell sharply against the yen today, carrying on from an overnight tumble against a resurgent US dollar.
"Once the kiwi broke through the overnight lows which were around US69.70c, we saw some pretty aggressive selling of kiwi against yen ," Mark Elliott, a currency strategist with ANZ Bank, said.
"As the kiwi's coming off, it's prompted those long on the carry trade to take profit."
Mr Elliott noted the kiwi had ranged widely against the greenback today, falling from a peak of US69.95c to its closing low at US69.14c.
That compared with yesterday's close at US70.59c, as the kiwi joined other commodity currencies which are hurting again st improved US dollar sentiment.
The greenback has gained support from falling oil prices and a recent run of data that has lowered expectations the Federal Reserve may cut interest rates in coming months.
The only currency which the greenback did not make ground against was the yen, which was bolstered by the growing view that the Bank of Japan may raise interest rates again as early as this month.
The US dollar slipped to 118.37 yen from 119.37 yen, while the kiwi dropped to 81.71 from 84.26 yen yesterday, down 3 per cent and a fall of 1.7 per cent during the day.
The kiwi lost ground against most other currencies including the Aussie dollar at A88.31c (A89.26c yesterday) . The TWI slipped to 68.41 (69.64).
Tonight the markets would be looking for US payrolls data and any bounce in the New Zealand dollar would be curbed to US69.70c, Mr Elliott said.
Rates:
5pm today 5.10pm yesterday
NZ dlr/US dlr US69.14c US70.59c
NZ dlr/Aust dlr A88.31c A89.26c
NZ dlr/euro 0.5289 0.5357
NZ dlr/yen 81.71 84.26
NZ dlr/stg 35.67p 36.14p
NZ TWI 68.41 69.64
Australian dollar US78.30c US79.09c
Euro/US dollar 1.3072 1.3174
- NZPA