The New Zealand dollar rose against the Aussie dollar after Australian wages accelerated by less than expected in the third quarter, despite a lift in the minimum wage.
The kiwi was trading at 90.56 Australian cents as at 5pm in Wellington from 89.99 cents late yesterday. It was at 68.71 US cents from 68.68 cents yesterday.
Australian wages rose a seasonally adjusted 0.5 per cent on the quarter and 2.0 per cent from a year earlier, the Australian Bureau of Statistics said Wednesday. Economists had expected wages to rise by 0.7 per cent on quarter and 2.2 per cent on-year, according to Reuters. The Fair Work Commission decided to raise the minimum wage by 3.3 per cent this July, the largest rise since 2011.
"We had expected to see a pickup in wage costs, technically due to the rise in minimum wage," said Robert Rennie, chief currency strategist at Westpac Banking Corp in Sydney.
That didn't happen which "continues to drive a key message. There is little or no wage growth here," he said.