The New Zealand dollar fell against the greenback after poor manufacturing data out of the UK and US doused the upbeat mood of global markets seen after officials in Washington agreed on a deal to lift the debt ceiling.
The run of soft factory data started in the UK with
the Markit/Cips manufacturing purchasing managers' index for July falling to 49.1, down from 51.4 in June.
That was followed by announcement from the Institute for Supply Management, which said its index of US national factory activity fell to 50.9 in July from 55.3 in the previous month, short of the 54.9 expected.
The data saw global markets gave up their early gains, with the Standard & Poor's 500 Index falling 0.2 per cent to 1,286.94, and Europe's Stoxx 600 dropping 1.2 per cent to 262.02, sapping demand for growth-linked currencies, with the kiwi and Australian dollar declining almost in tandem. The antipodean currencies were also dented by softer commodity prices, with the 19-commodity Thompson Reuters CRB Index falling 0.2 per cent to 341.41.
"It all started in the European session with the poor PMI out of UK, and then moved into US with ISM, which was very weak, sparking general concerns about global growth," said Mike Burrowes, a market strategist with Bank of New Zealand. "Just to spice things up, the US dollar acted as a safe haven currency again, and the kiwi just tracked those global moves."
