Currency: Dollar mixed ahead of RBNZ decision

The New Zealand dollar rose against the Australian dollar on a day that another wave of risk aversion swept through global markets.

The NZ dollar was at A82.98c at 5pm, up from A82.40c at 5pm yesterday. Around 8am it was at four-month highs at A83.27c.

By 5pm the NZ dollar was buying US66.95c, up from US66.60c at 8am and US66.29c at 5pm yesterday. The NZ dollar traded in a range between US66.46c and US67.20c today.

"We are reasonably strong against the Australian dollar," one dealer said.

The Australian dollar was weak today because commodities prices have fallen but a lift in oil prices during the Asian trading day helped it recover some of its losses.

Dealers said that while the New Zealand market is focused on tomorrow's Reserve Bank of New Zealand monetary statement the market is still hostage to the big shifts in sentiment in global markets. The RBNZ is expected to cut rates by 25 basis points.

So the current problems in the US finance sector will be monitored closely overnight.

Sharp losses in US equities have sparked risk aversion-inspired selling of yen crosses but on the day the kiwi rose to 71.75 yen at 5pm from 71.13 yen at 5pm yesterday.

The trade weighted index was 63.94 at 5pm from 63.45 yesterday.

Currency rates:

NZ dlr/US dlr US66.95c US66.29c

NZ dlr/Aust dlr A82.98c A82.40c

NZ dlr/euro 0.4729 0.4705

NZ dlr/yen 71.75 71.13

NZ dlr/stg 37.94p 37.76p

NZ TWI 63.94 63.45

Australian dollar US80.70c US80.38c

Euro/US dollar 1.4162 1.4088

US dollar/yen 107.17 107.32

- NZPA