The New Zealand dollar rose to a two-week high against the greenback, joining a rally across Asian equity markets, after a slowdown in the pace of US wage growth led investors to pare back US rate hike expectations.
The kiwi climbed as high as US73.23c and traded at US73.18c at 5pm from US72.89c at 8am and US72.80c on Friday in New York. The trade-weighted index advanced to 75.03 from 74.70 last week.
Government figures last Friday showed US average hourly earnings rose at a slower annual pace than anticipated of 2.6 per cent, tempering expectations the Federal Reserve might project four hikes for this year rather than three at next week's policy meeting.
The news saw Asian markets track Wall Street higher and weighed further on the greenback.
"The US dollar faded on Friday ... it didn't have the wheels to continue" given the labour market data and the move has continued today, said Sheldon Slabbert, a trader at CMC Markets.