NZ dollar little changed after dropping overnight

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The New Zealand dollar was little changed in Asia after falling sharply overnight when US retail sales data propelled the greenback higher.

The kiwi dropped was at 72.34 US cents as at 5pm in Wellington versus 72.36 US cents as at 8am in Wellington from 73.01 cents late yesterday. The trade-weighted index fell to 76.52 from 77.00 yesterday.

"We are in dribbling lower mode," said Westpac Banking Corp senior markets strategist Imre Speizer. A combination of a stronger US dollar, a recent intervention warning from the central bank and the fact that "technically it is looking stretched," means the kiwi remains under pressure.

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The central bank last Thursday sought to jawbone the kiwi lower in its monetary policy statement and Assistant Governor John McDermott told Bloomberg that tweaks to its language could be taken to signify a first step toward potential intervention.

The fact that whole milk powder slid 0.6 per cent to US$3,143 a tonne in the overnight Global Dairy Trade auction was also a "modest disappointment," said Speizer. The dairy futures had been pointing to a rise of as much as 5 per cent.

"The environment is not too flash for the kiwi," Speizer added. Looking ahead, he said investors are waiting for the minutes from the Federal Reserve Open Market Committee's July meeting which will be "closely scrutinized" for any thoughts on inflation, on the timing of tapering and on a possible rate hike in December. The minutes contain details, such as the conversations that took place between committee members, that are of interest, he said.

The kiwi fell to 80.07 yen from 80.47 yen yesterday. It declined to 92.32 Australian cents from 92.86 cents. It was trading at 4.8385 yuan from 4.8717 yuan, fell to 61.60 euro cents from 61.99 cents and traded at 52.20 British pence from 56.30 pence.

New Zealand's two-year swap rate was unchanged at 2.17 per cent while 10-year swaps rose 1 basis points to 3.17 per cent.