Kiwi hovers near recent two-week high

Wednesday 19th January 2011

The New Zealand dollar trailed off today after pushing to a two-week high against the greenback, in thin trading conditions due to a public holiday in the US.

By 5pm, the kiwi was at US77.17c, up from US76.82c late yesterday afternoon but unable to recapture the US77.45c seen overnight.

Against the aussie, the kiwi was at A77.73c from A77.80c yesterday.

Higher commodity prices boosted the kiwi overnight, ANZ analysts said.

While the currency was likely to revisit previous highs around US78c if it breaks above US77.50c, that was unlikely to happen in light trading with the US market closed for Martin Luther King day.

The kiwi was up against the euro, at 0.5808 from 0.5760 yesterday, and flat against sterling. The currency was up slightly against yen, at 63.73 from 63.68, but fell short of a two-month high of 64.53 yesterday evening.

The trade weighted index rose to 69.39 from 69.15.

The euro remained soft, giving up some ground amid increasing uncertainty over a eurozone safety fund this week.

European finance ministers have made no firm decisions about extra measures to tackle crippling debt levels that have so far affected Greece, Ireland, Portugal and Spain.

New tools to quell the problem have been called for, on top of the European Financial Stability Facility.

NZPA

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