KEY POINTS:
After falling nearly half a cent against the greenback to US75c after suspected Reserve Bank intervention yesterday morning, the New Zealand dollar climbed to an overnight peak of US75.75c.
The high point was reached about 7pm and the kiwi then fell away to be buying US75.44c around 11.50am today.
The ANZ bank today said the initial dip in the NZ dollar had been met with plenty of yield buyers, delivering a quick bounce.
After the brief test higher overnight, offshore activity had brought some sense of reality back to the market, ANZ said.
Against the Australian dollar the kiwi appears to be trending down from around A89.80c on Friday. By 8.20am today it was down to A89.40c, having been at A89.59c at 5.15pm yesterday.
But the kiwi was less retiring against the yen, hitting a 20-year high of 93.55 shortly before 7pm, and pulling back only reluctantly to be at 93.21 at 8.20am today.
Overnight the yen fell to a lifetime low against the euro and hit a fresh 4-1/2-year trough against the greenback as low Japanese interest rates continued to weigh on the currency.
The yen has declined across the board since Bank of Japan governor Toshihiko Fukui last week all but doused expectations that the Bank of Japan would raise interest rates in July. That led investors to continue dumping the yen for currencies such as the euro, which is expected to benefit from two more rates rises this year by the European Central Bank.
Against the euro, the kiwi was buying 0.5621 this morning, from 0.5636 at 5.15pm yesterday. The trade weighted index was at 73.49 from 73.61.
The US dollar edged lower overnight against the euro and sterling, tracking a slide in US bond yields, undermining the appeal of dollar-denominated assets.
Rates at 8.20am today:
NZ dlr/US dollar US75.39c
NZ dlr/Aust dollar A89.40c
NZ dlr/euro 0.5621
NZ dlr/yen 93.21
NZ dlr/sterling 38.02p
Other cross rates:
Australian dollar US84.33c
Euro/US dollar 1.3410
US dollar/yen 123.65
- NZPA