The kiwi hit a 17-month high against the aussie today, but drifted off its overnight high against the greenback during today's local session.
At 5pm today the kiwi was buying A92.45c, compared to A91.61c at the same time yesterday.
The kiwi gained ground against the Australian dollar following the release of upbeat New Zealand retail sales figures yesterday, in contrast to soft labour force data released across the Tasman.
BNZ currency strategist Sue Trinh said the falling yen had pushed currencies throughout the Asia Pacific region down against the greenback. The yen slumped today on the back of worse than expected gross domestic product figures.
Japan reported GDP growth of 0.4 per cent for the April to June quarter, against analyst expectations of 1 per cent growth.
At 5pm in Wellington the greenback was fetching 111.95 yen, against 110.70 yen at the same time yesterday. The kiwi was buying 73.21 yen (72.59).
Meanwhile, the kiwi was at US65.40c (from US65.57c at 5pm yesterday), having traded between US65.45c and US65.90c for much of the local session.
The Australian dollar was at US70.74c (US71.56c).
Looking ahead, the market is looking for direction from more economic data due out of the US tonight, including the producer price index and trade deficit data.
Ms Trinh said the market was waiting to see if the data reinforced the upbeat view the US Federal Reserve has for the US economy for the second half of the year.
"We need to see a string of very strong data to see the market push the US dollar a little bit higher," Ms Trinh said.
At 5pm in Wellington, the euro was at US$1.2230 (US$1.2235).
On the crosses, the kiwi was buying 0.5347 euro (0.5360), 35.93 British pence (35.79), and 0.8224 Swiss francs (0.8258).
The trade weighted index was at 66.62 (66.51), while the monetary conditions index was at plus 716 (708).
On the money and debt markets, 90-day bank bill yields were at 6.45 per cent (6.46), February 2006 bonds were at 6.13 per cent (6.15), July 2009s were at 6.15 per cent (6.17), and April 2013s were at 6.16 per cent (6.19).
- NZPA
<i>Currency:</i> Kiwi hits 17 month high against the Aussie
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