AUROA: The New Zealand dollar is up against the greenback which weakened sharply ahead of a US gross domestic product (GDP) report due out on Wednesday night.
The kiwi was trading at US77.19c on Wednesday morning, up from US76.19c on Tuesday.
BNZ currency strategist Raiko Shareef said the US market had been underperforming and GDP, a measure of economic growth, was expected to be soft.
The GDP report is expected to show slowing consumer spending, sluggish business investment and a continued deterioration in net exports.
“It’s been a series of negative surprises,” he said.
Bloomberg reported the US economy grew 1 per cent in first three months of the year, half the pace of the previous three months.
But, Westpac senior market strategist Imre Speizer said there was no catalyst for the sharp fall of the US dollar which was a continuation of a trend in recent weeks.
A meeting for the Federal Reserve on Thursday was also unlikely to have caused the drop, he said.
Shareef said there were no signs the Federal Reserve would increase interest rates at its meeting, but he expected the US dollar to get stronger towards the end of this year.
The New Zealand dollar was this morning trading at A96.18c, 50.3 pence, EU70.28c and 91.72 yen.
