Stronger-than-forecast retail sales and a muscular performance by the Australian dollar underpinned the New Zealand dollar today.
It ended the session near yesterday's closing level of US61.80c after opening at US61.58c.
May retail sales showed a 1.3 per cent jump from April against economists' forecasts of a 0.3 per cent increase.
BNZ economists said the kiwi was bid higher on the view that the first cut in interest rates was likely to be pushed out to the June 2007 quarter and not the March quarter as had been expected.
The Australian dollar then got a boost from stronger than expected jobs data that saw the unemployment hold steady on 4.9 per cent.
The second consecutive month of strong employment data sent the aussie to a six-week high. It closed locally on US75.52c from US75.36c yesterday, while the cross rate eased to A81.82c from A82.05c yesterday. The TWI firmed to 61.98 from 61.85.
ANZ said Asian demand for the NZ dollar had enabled it to build on the previous night's gains and lift it towards resistance at US62c.
The US dollar slipped against the yen, a day after rallying on better-than-expected US trade data, as the market hunkered down ahead of a likely rise in Japanese interest rates for the first time in six years.
The yen fell in the previous session as some in the market used comments against a rate rise by Finance Minister Sadakazu Tanigaki as an excuse to trim long positions. Expectations are the Bank of Japan will bump up rates by a quarter of a percentage point from virtually zero on Friday.
Few in the Tokyo market believe that the government's objections will temper the central bank's decision, just as the BOJ shrugged off policy makers' concerns when scrapping its previous quantitative easing policy in March.
The euro edged up to US$1.2715 after falling 0.6 per cent on Wednesday.
The following are Reuters currency rates:
5pm today 5pm Wednesday
NZ dlr US61.80c US61.82c
NZ dlr/Aust dlr A81.82c A82.05c
NZ dlr/euro 0.4862 0.4845
NZ dlr/yen 71.28 70.70
NZ dlr/stg 33.66p 33.51p
NZ TWI 61.98 61.85
Australian dollar US75.52c US75.36c
Euro/US dollar US1.2715 US1.2764
US dollar/yen 115.33 114.35
- NZPA
<i>Currency:</i> Retail and Australian dollar bolster Kiwi
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