Trump's comments "certainly caused the US dollar to weaken," said Michael Johnston, senior trader at HiFX. "The Australian dollar took off like a cut cat on the Aussie employment numbers" and the move was probably exacerbated by thin trading ahead of the long Easter holiday, he said.
While New Zealand has a public holiday on Good Friday, it isn't a federal holiday in the US and the market will be watching for inflation and retail sales before the weekend, Jonhston said. That data "and whatever Trump tweets" is likely to keep markets relatively whippy, he said.
The kiwi dollar recovered some ground against the yen, rising to 76.19 yen from 76.04 yen yesterday. It had dropped as low as 75.64 yen, the lowest since November 14 last year, as geopolitical tensions related to North Korea and Syria sent investors to so-called safe-haven assets.
The local dollar rose to 55.70 British pence from 55.62 pence late yesterday and traded at 65.58 euro cents from 65.47 cents. It rose to 4.8111 yuan from 4.7893 yuan.
New Zealand's two-year swap rate fell 1 basis point to 2.25 per cent and 10-year swaps fell 1 basis point to 3.25 per cent.
