KEY POINTS:
The New Zealand dollar remained soft today after the release of a gloomy business survey, and on the back of a stronger US dollar.
By 5pm, the kiwi was at US75.25c from US75.70c late yesterday afternoon, having recovered slightly from an earlier decline to a three-week low of around US75c.
Against the Aussie, the kiwi inched higher to A78.82c from A78.75c, but eased against the euro, yen and sterling.
"Overnight, kiwi, euro and aussie have all been lower on softer commodities," said ANZ Institutional Bank chief dealer Murray Hindley.
The NZ Institute of Economic Research's June quarter Quarterly Survey of Business Opinion (QSBO) showed businesses were the most pessimistic about their own outlook for 26 years, and a host of other negative indicators.
The institute said the survey pointed to negative economic activity for three quarters, with a recession technically two consecutive quarters of decline.
"I think the July (RBNZ) rate cut remains a 50/50 call, but it was certainly broad-based weakness in all the activity indicators," Mr Hindley said.
The next economic data of interest is retail sales and the second quarter Consumers Price Index, next week.
The US dollar rose a touch against the euro, supported by a drop in oil prices overnight, but its gains were limited by renewed credit worries.
The dollar also failed to take advantage of an unexpected fall in euro zone investor morale to a three-year low in July.
5.00pm CROSS RATES
NZ dlr/US dlr US75.25
NZ dlr/Aust dlr A78.82c NZ dlr/euro 0.4791 0.4837
NZ dlr/yen 80.58
NZ dlr/stg 38.12p
Australian dollar US95.49
Euro/US dollar 1.5708
US dollar/yen 107.07
- NZPA