The New Zealand dollar climbed back over US62c in steady trading today ahead of key current account data tomorrow.
At 5pm the kiwi was buying US62.12c from US61.79c at 5pm yesterday. Against the Australia dollar, the NZ dollar rose to A84.06c from A83.73c while the trade-weighted index lifted to 62.57
from 62.41.
Migration data today showed a net gain of 860 long term or permanent immigrants in May, and a net gain of 10,190 for the May year, up 16 per cent on the previous year.
Private research house Business and Economic Research Ltd said in its quarterly forecasts it believes the economy has probably hit the bottom of the current slowdown. Its forecast for growth is for a more rapid recovery new year that the Reserve Bank's.
Economists expect the current account deficit in the March year will print above $14 billion -- or 9 per cent of gross domestic product.
Among the major currencies, the yen rose after the Bank of Japan (BOJ) chief signalled that Japanese interest rates were on course to rise for the first time in six years, possibly as soon as July.
The Japanese currency was up 0.3 per cent against the dollar a day after BOJ Governor Toshihiko Fukui said that policy decisions should be made early if warranted by economic conditions.
"Yesterday he made some hawkish comments on rates and showed his willingness to stay in office, and this news raised the possibility of an end to the zero interest rate policy in July," Masafumi Yamamoto, currency strategist at Nikko Citigroup, said.
CROSS RATES
5pm today - 5pm Tuesday
NZ dlr/US dlr - US62.12c US61.79c
NZ dlr/Aust dlr - A84.06c A83.73c
NZ dlr/euro - 0.4920 0.4915
NZ dlr/yen - 71.22 71.34
NZ dlr/stg - 0.3363 0.3357
NZ TWI - 62.57 62.41
Australian dollar - US73.88 US73.34c
Euro/US dollar - US1.2629 US1.2573
US dollar/yen - 114.73 115.47
- NZPA
