Kiwi pushed back to post-quake high against greenback

Wednesday 30th March 2011

The New Zealand dollar pushed higher against the greenback as growth-linked currencies such as the kiwi and Australian and Canadian dollars were supported by improving risk appetites among investors.

The kiwi peaked around US75.75c about 7am, the same level it reached early on Saturday, and the highest since the Christchurch earthquake on February 22 when the NZ dollar plunged from US76.40c to US75c in a few hours.

At 8am the NZ dollar was buying US75.73c, up from US75.07c at 5pm.

BNZ currency strategist Mike Jones said the NZ dollar had thumbed its nose at a broad strengthening of the US currency.

Along with other growth-linked currencies, the kiwi had found support from further recovery in investors' risk appetite, as the lack of any fresh bad news from the Middle East or Japan saw US stock markets post modest gains.

Solid demand for the NZ dollar against the euro and yen also underpinned the kiwi overnight.

The NZ dollar peaked at 0.5379 euro, its highest level in nearly four weeks, shortly before 7am, up from 0.5331 euro at 5pm.

Against the Japanese currency, the peak was a five-week high 62.47 yen, up from 61.36 yen at 5pm, while the NZ dollar rose to A73.60c against the aussie at 8am from A73.31c at 5pm. The trade weighted index rose to 66.45 from 65.86.

The US dollar reached its highest levels against the yen since March 18, when the Bank of Japan and other major central banks intervened to stop runaway yen gains.

"There are a lot of yen negatives right now," said Steven Englander, head of G10 strategy at CitiFX in New York.

"First, the rate differential between US and Japanese yields has widened, working in the (US) dollar's favour," he said. "Second, it is becoming increasingly clear that repatriation flows (to Japan) are not panning out and if anything will be limited."

The US dollar rose for a time against the euro after St Louis Federal Reserve bank President James Bullard told an audience in Prague the US economy was strong enough to curtail the Fed's US$600 billion bond-buying programme by US$100 billion.

NZPA

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