The New Zealand dollar was rattled by a resurgent greenback yesterday, losing ground against both the United States dollar and its Australian counterpart.
By 5pm the kiwi had fallen to US48.45c from US48.85c at Wednesday's close and A87.02c, from a near four-year high of A87.53c earlier today.
The Australian dollar also lost ground, buying US55.67c from US55.97c early in the local session.
Dealers said the kiwi was weakened by offshore sellers ahead of the Independence Day holiday in the United States overnight. The softer Australian dollar also flowed through to the kiwi, and the local unit is expected to test lows around US48.25c overnight.
Even yesterday's decision by the Reserve Bank to hike the Official Cash Rate by 25 basis points to 5.75 per cent failed to fire up investors looking for a high yield play.
With no data of note due out tomorrow, trade in the kiwi is unlikely to pick up again until next week when US investors return from holiday.
On the other main crosses at 5pm, the kiwi was at 58.35 yen (58.65), 31.74 pence (31.91), 0.7271 Swiss francs (0.7280) and 0.4967 euro (0.4967).
Against the kiwi, the aussie was buying $NZ1.1489 ($NZ1.1523).
On the money market 90-day bills were at 6.01 per cent (5.99), the trade-weighted index was at 55.46 (55.68) and the monetary conditions index eased to minus 245 (minus 227).
On the debt market bonds lost much of yesterday's gains, with the April 2004 bonds at 5.98 per cent (5.94), the November 2006 bonds at 6.37 per cent (6.26), and the November 2011 bonds at 6.60 per cent (6.55).
- NZPA
<i>Currency:</i> Kiwi gives up early strength on resurgent greenback
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