5.31pm
The New Zealand dollar lost a lot of ground in a session that saw the United States flex its muscles on the world's forex markets, a broker said today.
At 5pm, the kiwi was at US70.60c (from US70.96c at the same time yesterday), having ranged between US70.44c and US71.02c.
It opened at
US70.96c.
BNZ currency strategist Sue Trinh said that at one point the kiwi lost some 50 basis points against the greenback, before recovering towards the end of the session.
"It (the US dollar) has gained a lot of lost ground right across the board and the kiwi has come under pressure as a result," Ms Trinh told NZPA.
A rumour circulated that the Bank of Japan or that country's minister of finance were looking at using this holiday shortened week to potentially intervene and keep the yen weak.
"In doing so they'd have to buy US dollars and so that's given it a bid tone right across the board, spooked a few market players and put the kiwi on its back foot," Ms Trinh said.
The Australian dollar was at US77.99c (US78.17c), the euro was at US$1.3001 (US$1.3030), and the greenback was buying 103.38 yen (103.31).
On its main crosses, the kiwi was at A90.53c (A90.79c), 0.5430 euro (0.5447) 38.07 British pence (38.23), 72.98 yen (73.32 yen) and 0.8244 Swiss francs (0.8249).
The trade-weighted index was at 68.63 (68.89) and the monetary conditions index was at plus 894 (912).
On the money market, 90-day bank bill yields were at 6.74 per cent (6.73), February 2006 bond yields were at 6.25 per cent (6.27), July 2009s were at 6.03 per cent (6.04) and April 2013s were at 6.04 per cent (6.06).
- NZPA
