Kiwi hovers around US70c

The New Zealand dollar hovered above US70c this morning, as the market awaited the release of third quarter GDP statistics.

In a morning brief, ANZ senior markets economist Khoon Goh said the GDP figure would take the focus of markets this morning and further US dollar strength was expected to help the kiwi move below US70c during the remainder of this week.

He said that despite a positive third quarter current account release yesterday the NZ dollar was unable to thwart selling pressures as the US dollar strengthened.

"Overnight it suffered a sharp setback to find itself this morning clinging on to US70c."

At 8am today the kiwi was at US70.32c, back where it sat at 5pm yesterday, and barely changed against the aussie at A80.05c from A80.07c at 5pm.

But the kiwi firmed against other major currencies: up to 0.4926 euro from 0.4919 and to 64.48 yen from 64.25. The trade weighted index was at 64.57 at 8am from 64.53 at 5pm.

- NZPA