The New Zealand dollar was heading for a 0.7 per cent weekly decline, after being dragged lower by a weaker Australian dollar, as traders are awaiting US payrolls data.
The kiwi was trading at US68.34c at 5pm today from US68.60c late on Thursday and from US68.85c a week ago. It was at A90.93c from A90.85c late on Thursday as the aussie traded near a six-month low at US75.13c.
The aussie was weighed on by soft trade data for October, weak iron ore markets and a firmer US dollar. The greenback has strengthened on optimism about the progress of US tax reforms, reports US President Donald Trump is confident he can strike a deal to lift the US debt ceiling and ahead of the payrolls data with investors expecting 200,000 new jobs in November.
Sheldon Slabbert, a trader at CMC Markets, said markets might be disappointed in the payrolls figures. While the jobs numbers might look healthy, a lack of wage growth "will probably see the US dollar sell off", he said.
He noted, however, while the kiwi might open higher on Monday, it would continue to struggle as the US Federal Reserve lifts rates while the Reserve Bank of NZ remains firmly on hold and there is evidence of a slowdown in housing, business confidence is waning and the dairy sector is coming under pressure.
Domestically, investors will be focused on next week's half-year economic and fiscal update and Budget policy statement from the Government.
The kiwi traded at ¥77.42 from ¥77.09 and fell to 50.70 British pence from 51.25p. It was largely unchanged at €58.06c from €58.09c. It fell to 4.5223 yuan from 4.5367 yuan while the trade-weighted index declined to 72.44 from 72.53 on Thursday.
New Zealand's two-year swap rate was unchanged at 2.14 while the 10-year swap rate was unchanged at 3.07 per cent.