25 May 2009

Source: stuff.co.nz

The New Zealand dollar reached a seven-month high against the greenback, as the United States currency tumbled after heavy offshore selling.

The kiwi climbed as high as US62.37c early Saturday, according to Reuters data, although it tumbled half a cent in the hour before 8am today to US61.39c.

At that level it was under the US61.48c at 5pm on Friday.

ANZ today said it was obvious the world disliked the US dollar for now, amid concerns about the US economy. That had seen the NZ dollar move towards US62c.

Despite the week starting with holidays in the US and Britain, the focus would remain on the US dollar and its relative weakness, ANZ said.

The NZ dollar's fortunes might initially rest with the global reaction to US moves to adopt dairy subsidies.

The kiwi fell to 0.4382 euros at 8am from 0.4415 at Friday's local close, while against the Australian dollar it edged down to A78.72c from A78.95c.

The NZ dollar was also buying 58.05 yen at the local open, slightly up from 57.90 yen at 5pm on Friday.

The trade weighted index dropped to 58.35 at 8am today from 58.52 at 5pm on Friday.