WELLINGTON: The NZ dollar traded near a three-year low after failing to push below 74 US cents, a level it hasn’t breached since late 2011.
The kiwi trade at 74.31 US cents as at 5 pm in Wellington, from 74.50 cents in New York on Friday. Earlier, it fell as low as 74.07 cents.
The trade-weighted index was at 76.92, down from 77.24 on Friday.
A regional holiday in Auckland and the absence of traders in Australia, which celebrated Australia Day, kept trading subdued and made it harder for the kiwi to break through key support levels, said Mark Johnson, senior dealer at OMF.
Traders are awaiting the Reserve Bank’s interest rate review on Thursday for any change in language about the prospect of interest rate hikes given consumer prices are falling.
The New Zealand dollar traded at 66.46 euro cents, up from 66.07 cents on Friday. It rose to 94.27 Australian cents from 93.57 cents on Friday and slipped to 49.54 British pence from 50.02 pence.
The local currency traded at 87.38 yen from 88.89 yen on Friday.
