WELLINGTON: The New Zealand dollar has risen to a six-week high, extending gains after another increase in milk product prices at the latest GlobalDairyTrade auction and higher commodity prices across the board. The kiwi climbed to 65.88 US cents at 5pm in Wellington from 65.41 cents at 8am and 64.99 cents yesterday. The trade-weighted index advanced to 71.17 from 70.51 yesterday.
Commodity prices rose, with Brent crude oil gaining 0.8 percent to US$52.35 a barrel, and the average winning price across all dairy products gained 9.9 percent at the latest GDT event. Milk product prices had tumbled with other commodity prices in recent months, and their recovery over the past two months has eased concerns it would slow local economic growth.
“Kiwi, Aussie and commodity currencies in general have quite well supported by the uplift in the crude oil price,” said James Davies, senior foreign exchange dealer at OMF in Auckland. He said the kiwi was also being supported by institutional funds who saw asset prices in emerging markets and across Asia Pacific as being cheap after the recent declines in their respective currencies.
The kiwi rose to 91.68 Australian cents at 5pm in Wellington from 91.28 cents yesterday, to 4.1854 Chinese yuan from 4.1301 yuan, to 78.96 yen from 77.61 yen and to 58.38 euro cents from 58.11 cents.
