5.00pm
The New Zealand dollar today got a nudge higher on the back of figures showing New Zealanders continued their love affair with shopping in the September quarter.
At 5pm, the kiwi was at US68.92c (from US$68.46c at 5pm last night), having ranged between US68.74c and US69.04c.
It opened at US68.75c on overnight weakness in the US dollar, and edged higher on figures that showed retail sales in the September quarter rose a seasonally adjusted 2.6 per cent.
It was the highest quarterly rise in sales since the June quarter of 1997.
The rise was ahead of economists' forecasts, and has caused them to question the Reserve Bank's (RB) decision last month to halt its monetary tightening phase.
BNZ currency strategist Sue Trinh said the kiwi was well supported today by the strong retail sales number.
"What that did was reaffirm the argument that the RB is not necessarily finished in terms of tightening (the official cash rate)," Ms Trinh said.
"A few analysts have called an end to the tightening cycle, but we still around a 30 or 40 per cent probablility of a rate hike in December," she told NZPA today.
Some other economists expected the RB to resume its tightening phase next year after yesterday's strong jobs data.
Unemployment fell from 4.0 per cent in the June quarter to 3.8 per cent in the September quarter, the lowest rate since the December quarter of 1985.
The cash rate is currently at 6.50 per cent, and has been lifted six times by the RB this year.
Meanwhile, the Australian dollar was fetching US76.47c (from US75.96c).
The greenback was at 105.98 yen (107.15), and the euro was at US$1.1770 (US$1.2887).
The kiwi-aussie cross was at A90.13c (A90.14), which reflected the good support for the kiwi, Ms Trinh said
"That cross has recovered a little bit, having slipped below A90c its ground back up to that A90.20c area," she said.
On the crosses its other cross, the kiwi was buying 0.5337 euro (0.5313 euro) 37.33 British pence (37.08) 73.05 yen (73.26 yen) and 0.8114 Swiss francs (0.8093).
The NZ dollar trade-weighted index was at 67.65 (67.41) and the monetary conditions index was at plus 823 (808).
On the money market, 90-day bank bill yields were unchanged on 6.75 per cent.
February 2006 bond yields were on 6.26 per cent (6.27 per cent), July 2009s were on 6.06 per cent (6.04) and April 2013s were at 6.12 per cent (6.14).
- NZPA
<i>Currency:</i> NZ dollar gets support from retail data
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