NZ dollar goes up, greenback takes tumble

The New Zealand dollar is headed for a 1.3 per cent weekly gain after the greenback took a tumble.

The kiwi traded at US68.65c at 5pm yesterday versus US68.44c at 8am and US67.79c last Friday in New York. The trade-weighted index was at 74.78 versus 74.66 late on Thursday.

The bulk of the lift came midweek when Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell’s statement on US interest rates led investors to pare back expectations for rate hikes.

Ongoing weakness in New Zealand business confidence this week failed to dent the mood and Westpac Bank analysts said there was potential for the kiwi to move higher.

The kiwi traded at 77.84 yen from 77.69 yen and was at 4.7659 Chinese yuan from

4.7578 yuan on Thursday. It rose to 53.71 British pence from 53.38 pence and traded at

60.24 euro cents from 60.22 cents.

New Zealand's two-year swap rate fell 1 basis point to 2.08 per cent; the 10-year swaps were were down 1 basis point at 2.89 per cent.