NZ dollar slips as US ponders rate hike

The kiwi rose to 63.43 US cents at 8am in Wellington from 63.06 cents yesterday. The trade-weighted index advanced to 69.26 from 68.97 yesterday.

The New Zealand dollar fell overnight from its highest level in a week after two Federal Reserve officials followed chair Janet Yellen in expressing their preference for the start of interest rate hikes this year.

The kiwi fell to 63.61 US cents as at 8:30am in Wellington from 63.84 cents in late New York trading on Friday. The trade-weighted index rose to 69.47 from 69.13.

US Federal Reserve chair Janet Yellen said on Friday that she favoured a rate hike this year in a slow return to normality, and was followed by St Louis Fed President James Bullard and Kansas City Fed President Esther George making similar comments over the weekend. The kiwi held up against broad US dollar strength on Friday. An upward revision to US economic growth figures and the announcement by US Speaker of the House John Boehner that he would resign next month, possibly averting a budget stalemate, also helped US dollar sentiment.

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"With a further nine Fed speakers scheduled for this week (including Yellen again) and the all important non-farm payrolls report also due later in the week, Fed policy - and its impact on broader markets - will no doubt remain at the forefront of the markets' mind," ANZ Bank New Zealand's Philip Borkin and Sam Tuck wrote in a report.

They see the kiwi trading in a range of 63.40 US cents to 64.40 cents in what's expected to be "a quiet start to the normally volatile week" of US non-farm payrolls, with little domestic data apart from the ANZ Business Outlook on Wednesday and ANZ Commodity Price Index on Friday.

The kiwi slipped to 90.47 Australian cents from 90.84 cents in New York on Friday and traded at 76.65 yen from 76.96 yen. The local dollar fell to 4.0524 yuan from 4.0690 yuan on Friday and declined to 56.79 euro cents from 57.03 cents. It fell to 41.83 British pence from 42.05 pence.