The New Zealand dollar gained from a two-month low as weak German investor confidence and a standoff on the Russia/Ukraine border weighed on market sentiment.
The kiwi rose to 84.36 US cents at 8am in Wellington from 84.13 cents. The trade-weighted index increased to 79.15 from 78.99.
Asset classes weremixed with stocks on Wall Street lower, US treasury yields higher and the greenback little changed after Germany's ZEW survey showed investor confidence dropped to the lowest since December 2012, and as a Russian aid convoy was en route to Ukraine, raising fears it could be the precursor to an invasion. Bloomberg reported Ukraine plans to block the aid convoy, demanding the mission be led by the Red Cross.
"The poor (ZEW) showing likely took its cues slowing growth in Germany (and the rest of Europe), as well as an overlay of concern about the West's standoff with Russia," Raiko Shareef, currency strategy at Bank of New Zealand, said in a note. "Once again, major currencies were little changed over the past 24 hours, with fairly light data and news flow."
BNZ's Shareef said the kiwi may trade between84 US cents and 84.90 cents today.
The local currency gained to 86.24 yen at 8am in Wellington from 87.07 yen yesterday, and was little changed at 90.94 Australian cents from 90.82 cents. It gained to 63.11 euro cents from 62.92 cents yesterday, and was little changed at 50.17 British pence from 50.20 pence.
