Kiwi settled as figures released

Photo / Kenny Rodger

The New Zealand dollar was little changed yesterday after current account data was released ahead of gross domestic product data for the September quarter today.

By 5pm the New Zealand dollar was at US74.20c, down from US74.57c at 5pm on Tuesday. It had risen on Tuesday night to US74.84c but drifted back after failing to break key levels.

The NZ dollar was at A75.41c at 5pm from A74.83c at 5pm on Tuesday.

TD Securities said that it expected that GDP contracted by 0.3 per cent in the third quarter.

The current account was in surplus for the September quarter because of re-insurance flows from offshore because of the Canterbury earthquake.

The euro has been weak after Moody's warned it may downgrade Portugal's rating. Still, the NZ dollar edged down to €0.5647 at 5pm from €0.5661 on Tuesday, and eased to 62.14 against the yen from 62.38.

- NZPA