NZ dollar holds above 70 US cents in quiet trading

Friday 22nd December 2017

The New Zealand dollar held above 70 US cents as investors continued to take heart from yesterday's upwardly revised gross domestic product numbers.

The kiwi traded at 70.19 US cents as at 3pm in Wellington from 70.07 cents yesterday. The trade-weighted index was at 73.83 from 73.75.

The local currency got a lift yesterday when Statistics New Zealand's revisions to the GDP painted a solid economic picture as they indicated growth was materially higher over the past three years. While US dollar sentiment improved after sweeping tax cuts were passed by Congress this week, the kiwi held its gains in very light trading ahead of the Christmas holiday.

Tim Kelleher, head of institutional foreign exchange sales at ASB Bank said trading was very quiet and the kiwi "is just sort of poised about where it is going to go to the in New Year and it would need to get above 71 US cents to even consider it going higher." He expects light trading to continue now over the holiday period.

The kiwi was steady against the Aussie after it fell overnight on some strong offshore interest in the Australian dollar. It traded at 90.97 Australian cents from 90.96 Australian cents as at 8am in Wellington and 91.39 cents late yesterday.

The kiwi traded at 79.55 yen from 79.46 yen yesterday and 4.6192 yuan from 4.6018 yuan. It lifted to 59.27 euro cents from 59.04 cents and traded at 52.49 British pence from 52.42 pence.

New Zealand’s two-year swap rate was steady at 2.19 percent and the 10-year swaps slipped 1 basis point to 3.14 percent.

(BusinessDesk)

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