Wheeler jawboning fails to dent kiwi

The New Zealand dollar dipped briefly after Reserve Bank governor Graeme Wheeler made what may be his last official attempt to jawbone the kiwi lower before paring its losses as fears about North Korea’s latest missile test receded in Asia.

The kiwi was trading at US72.61c at 5pm yesterday from US72.51c at 8am and US72.25c late on Tuesday. The trade-weighted index rose to 75.89 from 75.66.

The New Zealand dollar dipped to US72.34c after Wheeler “couldn’t resist taking a crack at the kiwi”, said Mark Johnson, senior dealer at OMF.

In his final official speech before retiring in September Wheeler told the Northern Club in Auckland that a lower New Zealand dollar “is needed to increase tradeables inflation and help deliver more balanced growth”.

It dropped as low as A90.71c, a fivemonth low, from A91.19c but was trading at A90.91c at 5pm.

“The fall proved fleeting,” said Johnson, who added the New Zealand dollar was stuck in a tight range with support at US72c and resistance at US73.35c.

The kiwi was helped by reduced fears that North Korea’s firing of a missile over Japan’s northern island of Hokkaido would lead to escalating tensions on the Korean peninsula. Overall, “risk sentiment would certainly appear to have recovered”, Johnson said. The easing fears helped the kiwi gain back some ground against the yen. The kiwi was trading at ¥79.69 from ¥78.58 late on Tuesday. Markets will be watching for US jobs data later in the week for direction.

The Kiwi dollar rose to 60.62c from 60.32c, gained to 56.14p from 55.82p and rose to 4.7785 yuan from 4.7735 yuan.

The 10-year swaps rose 3 basis points to 3.11 per cent.— BusinessDesk