NZ dollar hits post-float high US83c

The New Zealand dollar reached a new post-float high around US83c against the US dollar early today, as the effects of yesterday's monetary policy statement (MPS) from the Reserve Bank of New Zealand (RBNZ) continued to be felt.
The kiwi rose from around US81.50c just before the MPS release at 9am yesterday, getting to around US82.40c early afternoon yesterday, before falling away to US81.75c around 6pm after RBNZ Governor Alan Bollard said the market was overreacting to the MPS.
The NZ dollar then climbed through the night to its peak around US83c shortly before 4am, before falling away to US82.47c around 8am.
ANZ bank said the dollar had rallied as the ``hawkish'' RBNZ showed a stark contrast to central banks in Australia, Europe, and England, which remained on the dovish side.
Broadly speaking, the factors that had been supporting the NZ dollar remained in place. Those included a terms of trade boom, relative fiscal discipline, orientation to Asia, and relatively high interest rates, ANZ said.
That could see the NZ dollar go higher still, specially if data in the United States remained soft and European sovereign debt concerns intensified.
Overnight the euro was broadly weaker after the European Central Bank kept its 2012 inflation forecast unchanged, suggesting the pace of euro zone interest rate hikes may be slower than previously thought.
ECB President Jean-Claude Trichet did signal that the benchmark refinancing rate, now at 1.25 percent, would rise next month. But markets expected as much and had already priced in the prospect of a July hike.
Greece worries also weighed on the euro after Moody's said it would be tough to imagine private creditors participating voluntarily in a debt restructuring.
The NZ dollar climbed from 0.5604 euro at 5pm to a one-week high around 0.5710 euro overnight, before easing to 0.5683 euro at 8am. Against the Australian dollar, the kiwi rose from A77.38c to peak above A78c for the first time in more than four months, and by 8am was down to A77.63c.
The kiwi rose from 65.58 yen at 5pm to 66.21 yen at 8am, while the trade weighted index was up to 70.91 from 70.35.