Dollar rises after Trump talks down greenback

The New Zealand dollar rebounded on Thursday after US President Donald Trump said in an interview that the greenback was getting too high and he would prefer US interest rates to stay low. The kiwi fell against the Aussie after stronger- than- expected jobs data across the Tasman.

The kiwi dollar rose to US70.02c by 5pm in Wellington from US69.45c on Wednesday. It fell to A92.27c from A92.66c after figures showed Australia added three times as many jobs as forecast in March.

Trump told the Wall Street Journal that the greenback was “getting too strong”, triggering a 0.7 per cent drop in the US dollar index.

He also said he would prefer the Federal Reserve, which has flagged two rate hikes this year, to keep interest rates low.

The kiwi fell against its Australian counterpart after Government figures showed employment jumped by 64,900 jobs last month, against forecasts of a 20,000 increase.

Trump’s comments “certainly caused the US dollar to weaken,” said Michael Johnston, senior trader at HiFX.

“The Australian dollar took off like a cut cat on the Aussie employment numbers,” said Johnston, who added that the move was probably exacerbated by thin trading ahead of the long Easter holiday.

Overnight, the market was expected to be watching for inflation and retail sales figures from the US, which doesn’t observe a holiday on Good Friday, Johnston said.

The kiwi dollar recovered some ground against the yen, rising to 76.19 yen from 76.04 yen. It had dropped as geopolitical tensions related to North Korea and Syria sent investors to so- called safe- haven assets.

The local dollar rose to 55.70 British pence from 55.62 pence on Wednesday and traded at 65.58 euro cents from 65.47 cents.