Sharechat Logo

NZ dollar little changed as Wall Street rally falters, drought concerns weigh

Wednesday 13th March 2013

Text too small?

The New Zealand dollar was little changed as Wall Street's rally to record levels ran out of puff and traders pondered the effects on the economy of widespread drought in the North Island.

The kiwi traded at 82.45 US cents from 82.44 cents at 5pm in Wellington yesterday. The trade-weighted index was at 76 from 76.09.

The Dow Jones industrial Average slipped 0.03 percent in late trading, having reached record levels this week, after Bundesbank President Jens Weidmann warned that the euro zone's financial and sovereign debt crisis represents the most significant risk for the German economy. Meantime, farmers are warning that the North Island's drought is the worst in 70 years and will dent agricultural output.

"Risky markets flipped to a mildly downbeat mode last night with no obvious news catalyst to inspire further gains," Westpac Banking Corp senior markets strategist Imre Speizer said in a note. "Underperformer NZD suffered from drought fears and was stuck inside a 0.8232-0.8263 range."

Food prices for February are the only economic figures expected today as traders await the Reserve Bank's monetary policy statement tomorrow, where governor Graeme Wheeler is expected to keep the official cash rate at a record low 2.5 percent.

The kiwi traded at 63.33 euro cents from 63.29 cents and was at 55.31 British pence from 55.34 pence.

It fell to 79.20 yen from 79.55 yen as Japan's currency gained from a 3 ½-year low against the greenback. The New Zealand dollar fell to 79.92 Australian cents from 80.18 cents.

BusinessDesk.co.nz



  General Finance Advertising    

Comments from our readers

No comments yet

Add your comment:
Your name:
Your email:
Not displayed to the public
Comment:
Comments to Sharechat go through an approval process. Comments which are defamatory, abusive or in some way deemed inappropriate will not be approved. It is allowable to use some form of non-de-plume for your name, however we recommend real email addresses are used. Comments from free email addresses such as Gmail, Yahoo, Hotmail, etc may not be approved.

Related News:

SML - Synlait Milk Limited - Trading Halt of Securities
AIA - Auckland Airport announces board chair changes
AIA - Auckland Airport announces board chair changes
CEN - Tauhara commissioning progress update
FPH initiates voluntary limited recall
March 28th Morning Report
KFL Celebrates 20 Years of Excellence in Investment Mgmt.
SVR - Savor FY24 Earnings Guidance & Change in Banking Partner
NZK - NZ King Salmon Investments Limited FY24 Results
March 27th Morning Report