NZ dollar continues its upward trend

The New Zealand dollar ended its domestic session not far from a recent 9-1/2 month peak, even though Finance Minister Bill English said exporters need a lower currency.

Derek Rankin of Rankin Treasury said there was no reaction to Mr English's comments today.

The NZ dollar peaked at US66.30c in overnight trading, and was not far below that at US65.95c by 5pm, compared to US65.53c at 5pm yesterday.

"It still looks pretty positive. But the currency has gone a fair way in a hurry and it wouldn't surprise me to have a bit of a pull back," he said.

"The equity markets are really driving it."

Futures prices indicated another good day was in prospect for Wall Street but about 40 companies were reporting earnings in the United States tonight so there will be plenty of information for investors to absorb, Mr Rankin said.

Mr English said that if the NZ dollar was unexpectedly high, it was going to make it hard for the export sector to get up and running.

Mr Rankin said there was a desire for a weak US dollar to stimulate the US economy and that meant other currencies were strong.

"It is the price that you have to pay," he said.

The NZ dollar was close to the top of recent established ranges on some cross rates.

It rose to 0.4632 euro at 5pm from 0.4618 at the same time yesterday and 62.10 yen from 61.38. In overnight trading it reached an eight-month high against the euro, above 0.4650 euro.

It rose to A80.55c at 5pm from A80.30c yesterday.

The trade weighted index lifted to 61.62 from 61.27 yesterday.

Currency rates:

5pm today 5pm yesterday

NZ dlr/US dlr US65.95c US65.53c

NZ dlr/Aust dl A80.55c A80.30c

NZ dlr/euro 0.4632 0.4618

NZ dlr/yen 62.10 61.38

NZ dlr/stg 40.02 39.97

NZ TWI 61.62 61.27

Aust dlr/US dlr 80.58 81.55

Euro/US dlr 1.4239 1.4192

US dlr/yen 94.18 93.69

- NZPA