The New Zealand dollar struggled to gain traction against the US dollar after weaker US housing and consumer confidence figures, as traders locally look ahead to the Reserve Bank's rates review on Thursday.
The kiwi rose to 72.52 US cents as at 8am in Wellington from 72.48 cents in late new York trading on Friday. It reached as high as 73.19 cents last week, the highest since Feb. 8. The trade-weighted index was at 77.95 from 77.92.
See live rates for the NZ-US $ below. Click for more information:
US housing starts and building permits were both weaker than expected in May, while the University of Michigan consumer sentiment index came in at 94.5 in June against expectations of 97, which saw the US dollar retreat into the end of the week. In New Zealand, the Reserve Bank is expected to keep the official cash rate at 1.75 per cent on Thursday, having surprised many economists last month by projecting just one increase in the OCR by June 2020.