The kiwi traded at US68.76c at 5pm today.
The New Zealand dollar was little changed below US69c, having fallen along with other commodity-linked currencies as raw material prices fell and the market focused on US President Donald Trump's protectionist approach to trade.
The kiwi traded at US68.76c at 5pm today, little changed over the course of the day,
having fallen on Thursday night from US69.10c. The trade-weighted index fell to 74.75 from 75.05.
Commodity markets have been rattled by the Trump Administration's imposition of new tariffs on Canadian softwood lumber and the US President's ambition to scrap the North American Free Trade Agreement. The CRB Index of 19 commonly traded commodities fell 0.7 per cent to a five-month low on Thursday night, while earlier in the day Fonterra Cooperative Group said its milk collection "improved in March with better growing conditions across New Zealand".
"All the commodity currencies have been hammered - the kiwi more than most," said Imre Speizer, senior market strategist at Westpac Banking Corp. "The big picture from quite a while ago was the US dollar going up after Trump got elected and more recently it is about protecting US trade. The feeling is he is hammering countries and products. Even if New Zealand doesn't get singled out directly, it will be felt indirectly."
He said any reaction to Fonterra's milk collection is most likely to show up at next week's GlobalDairyTrade auction. The local currency fell to A91.97c from A92.02c.
