Kiwi briefly at 10-day high against greenback

Tuesday 22nd February 2011

The New Zealand dollar reached a 10-day high against the US currency in choppy overnight trading.

The kiwi peaked around US76.60c, then fell away to be US76.30c at 8am, little changed from its level at 5pm yesterday.

BNZ currency strategist Mike Jones said the NZ dollar had largely shrugged off a broadly stronger US currency.

Local data probably helped bolster NZ dollar sentiment. Most notably, January credit card billings looked strong, rising 3.8 percent in the month to be up 5.6 percent on a year ago, Mr Jones said.

Also, market chatter about a possible rise in Fonterra's payout forecast sometime in the next few days acted to keep the NZ dollar well supported on cross rates.

The NZ dollar's rise against the greenback had been curbed by a mild bout of risk aversion, as rising political tensions in the Middle East saw European equity indices fall. US markets were closed for a public holiday.

The kiwi also rose to A75.60c at 8am from A75.41c at 5pm, while being little changed at 0.5579 euro and 63.42 yen. The trade weighted index rose to 67.81 from 67.79.

The euro slipped broadly as worries stemming from rising tensions in the Middle East dented risk sentiment, although it was underpinned by hawkish comments from European Central Bank officials and robust euro-zone data.

It lacked the vigour to break above key resistance after Germany's main ruling party suffered a crushing defeat at a regional election in the city-state of Hamburg on Sunday.

NZPA

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