The trusted voice of the industry
for more than 30 years

Value of kiwi drops

Posted on 27 January, 2015

The New Zealand dollar fell to its lowest in more than three years as investors sold euro and bought US dollars, weakening other currencies against the greenback. The kiwi touched 74.25 US cents on Monday morning after breaking through its 2012 support levels around 74.50 and reaching its lowest level since November 2011 when it touched 73.67. The local currency was trading at 74.36 US cents at 8am in Wellington, from 74.50 at the New York close and 75.10 at 5pm in Wellington on Friday. The kiwi advanced to 66.57 euro cents from 66.07, slipped to 49.58 British pence from 50.02 and touched a two-month low of 87.27 yen and was trading at 87.45 yen at 8am from 88.89. The kiwi and Australian dollar have weakened as investors speculate a slump in commodity prices, low inflation and a round of interest-rate cuts by other central banks signal weak global demand, which could prompt those in this country and across the Tasman to reduce interest rates. New Zealand’s central bank is expected to keep its benchmark rate at 3.5 per cent on Thursday, although some economists expect the bank to remove its tightening bias.