Kiwi dollar up after North Korea threats

The New Zealand dollar rose after a North Korean official threatened to suspend nuclear talks with the United States.

The kiwi was trading at US68.43c at 5pm yesterday from US68.16c. The tradeweighted index was at 74.25 points from

74.03.

North Korea’s Vice Foreign Minister, Choe Son Hui, said his country has no intention of yielding to US demands, according to Russia’s TASS news agency.

It said North Korean leader Kim Jong-un will be making an official announcement soon on his position regarding talks with the US.

“It’s a US dollar story,” said Annette Beacher, head of Asia-Pacific research at TD Securities in Singapore.

She noted the Australian dollar had also risen on the news.

The kiwi was at A96.58c from A96.50c, while the Australian dollar was at US70.84c from US70.62c at 8am.

The market will be watching GDP data for the December quarter due out next Thursday to see whether economic activity justifies the currency remaining so strong.

News of shootings at two mosques in Christchurch may have distracted traders but it hasn’t affected currency markets.

The New Zealand dollar was trading at

51.66 British pence from 51.51 pence, at

60.46 euro cents from 60.32 cents, at 76.39 yen from 76.17 yen, and at 4.5978 Chinese yuan from 4.5816 yuan.

The two-year swap rate was at 1.8255 per cent from 1.8185 on Thursday; the 10-year swap was at 2.3575 per cent from 2.3425 — and up from Wednesday’s record low at

2.3150.