NZ dollar rises against Aussie

File Photo

The New Zealand dollar pushed up against the Australian dollar today, while the US dollar languished against a range of currencies, particularly the yen.

The NZ dollar was at US75.34c at 5pm, little changed from US75.37c at 8am and up from US74.80c at 5pm yesterday. It spent most of the day in a range between US75.20c to US75.55c.

The movement against the Australian dollar was more pronounced for as the Australian dollar slipped against the greenback investors holding long positions in the cross sold Australian dollars and bought NZ dollars.

The NZ dollar was at A77.15c at 5pm, up from A77.07c at 8am and A76.58c at 5pm yesterday.

"The US dollar is a bit weaker against the euro and it is back down to lows on dollar-yen," one dealer said. He said the NZ dollar was well-bid all day.

"A lot of people have been long aussie and short kiwi and the when the aussie didn't do much overnight and kiwi went back up it turned the cross around a bit," he said.

He said it will be a new ball game next week. As well as the usual reaction to trading on US markets on Friday investors are looking ahead to US mid-term elections and a Federal Reserve meeting next week. The Fed is expected to announced another round of bond buying.

The Reserve Bank of New Zealand held its official cash rate this week at 3 per cent and the Reserve Bank of Australia will pronounce on its key rate next week.

Investors are also far from certain about how much money the Fed will spend on easing policy, with a New York Federal Reserve survey of dealers and investors including scenarios of up to US$1 trillion ($1.33t), a figure larger than recent estimates.

BNZ markets strategist Mike Jones said a widening in New Zealand interest rate differentials had helped underpin recent gains in the NZ dollar against the US and Australian dollars.

ANZ said there had been evidence of solid support for the NZ dollar even before the OCR review yesterday.

The NZ dollar was little changed at 0.5420 euro at 5pm from 0.5411 euro yesterday, and was at 60.70 yen from 60.99 yesterday.

The trade weighted index rose to 66.92 at 5pm from 66.69 yesterday.

- NZPA