TOKYO: New Zealand dollar rose against the yen after Japanese growth was revised lower, damping demand for the nation’s currency.
The kiwi advanced to 89.37 yen at 8am in Wellington, from 88.77 yen at 5pm on Monday.
The local currency gained to 73.75 US cents from 73.31 cents after the greenback consolidated following stronger employment data on Friday.
The yen was the worst performing major currency overnight after a report showed the Japanese economy grew just 0.4 per cent in the fourth quarter of last year, lower than the previous 0.6 per cent estimate.
“The Japanese economy is still reeling from the effects of that sales tax rise in April last year on an economy that was already at best fragile and at worst going backwards slightly and what’s happening with its major trading partners has hit the export side,” said Bancorp Treasury Services client advisor Peter Cavanaugh.
Mr Cavanaugh said the kiwi was also recovering some ground lost over the weekend after the stronger US jobs data, however the yen hadn’t benefited because of Japan’s weak gross domestic product report.
