5.30pm
The kiwi stuck to tight ranges today, barely reacting to stronger than expected domestic data which looks to have sealed another interest rate hike next month.
At 5pm in Wellington today the kiwi was buying US65.57c from US65.03c at 5pm yesterday, having traded for most of the local session between US65.36c and US65.55c.
Another 25 basis point interest rate hike in September looks all but assured as data released today points to the economy having expanded faster in the June quarter than forecast.
According to Statistics New Zealand retail sales grew at a seasonally and inflation adjusted 0.8 per cent in the June quarter well above economists' predictions of 0.3 per cent.
The figures come on the back of Tuesday's job numbers which showed unemployment had fallen to a 17-year low of 4.0 per cent.
Citigroup economist Annette Beacher said in a commentary the robust data meant a further 25 basis point rate hike on October 28 was also likely.
A Wellington dealer said today's data underpinned the kiwi during the local session, but was not enough to push it out of its tight trading range. He said data out of the US tonight could provoke larger movement.
The data due out includes the latest initial jobless claims and retail sales for July.
Meanwhile at 5pm today, the Australian dollar was at US71.56c from its US71.28c close yesterday.
The euro was at US$1.2235 from US$1.2233 at 5pm yesterday and the greenback was fetching 110.70 yen (111.30).
On the crosses the kiwi was buying A91.61c (A91.31c), 0.5360 euro (0.5316), 35.79 British pence (35.57), 72.59 yen (72.37), and 0.8258 Swiss francs (0.8205).
The trade weighted index was at 66.51 (66.09), while the monetary conditions index was at plus 708 (674).
On the money and debt markets, 90-day bank bill yields were at 6.46 per cent (from 6.43 per cent), February 2006 bonds were at 6.15 per cent (6.14), July 2009s were at 6.17 per cent (6.15) and April 2013s were at 6.19 per cent (6.21).
- NZPA
<i>Currency:</i> Kiwi trades in tight range, unmoved by data
AdvertisementAdvertise with NZME.