AUROA: The New Zealand dollar is heading for a 1.5 per cent weekly drop against the greenback as investors continue to spurn risk-sensitive assets against the backdrop of weak Chinese stock markets.
THE kiwi fell to 63.59 US cents at 5pm in Wellington form 64.53 cents on Friday in New York last week.
It traded at 63.92 US cents at 8am and 63.41 cents on Thursday.
The trade-weighted index is heading for a 0.8 per cent weekly decline, trading at 69.27 at 5pm, up from 68.94 on Thursday after it gained against the euro on the prospect of more quantitative easing in the euro zone
“The market’s taking quite a lot of direction from the back of China’s equity markets, which have been bouncing around three or four per cent either side of where it’s opening,” said John Chisholm, senior trader at HiFX in Auckland.
“That seems to be driving the bulk of the Antipodes,” he said, referring to the Australian and New Zealand currencies.
Meantime, US non-farm payrolls for August are expected to show the world’s biggest economy added 218,000 jobs last month when the figures are released on Friday in Washington, and a strong print leaves open the door for a rate hike by the Federal Reserve this year.
“If it’s a good number then we could see the kiwi come off a little bit more – something with a 62 on the front certainly is a realistic possibility over the next 24 hours,” Mr Chisholm said.
The kiwi rose to 57.10 euro cents at 5pm on Friday from 56.53 cents on Thursday, to 91.18 Australian cents from 90.33 cents and to 4.0392 Chinese yuan from 4.0296 yuan. It fell to 75.81 yen from 76.43 yen.
