Renewed weakness in the US dollar sent the New Zealand dollar sharply higher today and dealers said a retest of US70c was likely by the end of the week.
The kiwi ended at US69.18c, having traded as high as US69.31c from US68.33c at 5pm last night.
After looking "rather sickly" in recent days, the New Zealand dollar rebounded as the US dollar dived on weaker than expected US consumer confidence figures released overnight.
Westpac chief dealer in New Zealand Basil Payn said both kiwi and Australian dollars were well bid by Asian players.
He said markets had been just waiting to see if US dollar weakness would reassert itself, "and it looks as if it has".
"I suspect US68.80c would be very good support now and US69.5-US70c (will be tested) again before the end of the week."
The Australian dollar finished the day at US78.0c from US77.35c yesterday.
The US consumer confidence figures released overnight were the worst since October last year.
The Conference Board, a private research firm, said its index of consumer confidence dropped to 87.3 in February from a downwardly revised 96.4 in January.
Economists had forecast a drop to 92.5.
The weak US dollar also helped boost the euro, which pushed up through the US$1.27 region overnight. It closed here at US$1.2688, up from US$1.2535 at 5pm last night.
The greenback was buying 108.12 yen (108.65 yen) at the close.
On the crosses at 4.30pm, the kiwi was buying A88.65c (A88.31c), 0.5451 euro (0.5448), 74.75 yen (74.19 yen), 36.56 British pence (36.63), and 0.8585 Swiss Francs (0.8602).
The trade-weighted index rose to 68.04 (67.65), while the monetary conditions index was at plus 739 (709).
The 90-day bank bill yields were unchanged at 5.33 per cent. The February 2006 yields were also steady on 5.57 per cent, July 2009 bond yields fell to 5.77 per cent (5.79) and the April 2013s fell to 5.92 per cent (5.95)
- NZPA
<i>Currency:</i> Weak US dollar sends Kiwi heading towards US70c again
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