Kiwi climbs against euro

The NZ dollar has climbed to a three-week high against the euro ahead of another expected official cash rate hike by the RBNZ.

The New Zealand dollar rose to a three-week high against the euro as investors were lured by the higher yield available in New Zealand.

The kiwi was trading at 62.91 euro cents at 8am on Wednesday in Wellington from 62.54 cents at 5pm on Tuesday. Overnight it touched 62.95 cents.

The local currency advanced to US85.21 cents from US84.99c and the trade-weighted index gained to 79.54 from 79.26.

The European Central Bank last week cut its key deposit rate to negative and introduced further stimulus in an attempt to bolster economic growth and ward off the threat of deflation.

The central bank chiefs of Finland and Slovakia, who both sit on the ECB's 24-member governing council, reiterated that the bank could still do more to support the eurozone economy following last week's move.

That contrasts with the Reserve Bank of New Zealand, which is expected on Thursday to raise interest rates for a third time and signal further hikes are in the pipeline to head off inflation from a resurgent economy.

"Strength in the New Zealand dollar relative to its European peers was the most notable theme on the crosses overnight," Bank of New Zealand senior market strategist Kymberly Martin said in a note.

"We suspect the RBNZ will show sufficient commitment to its rate hiking process to extend the near-term bounce in the NZD/USD."

The British pound appeared to have been dragged down alongside the euro, Ms Martin said.

The New Zealand dollar touched a two-week high of 50.89 British pence, from 50.55 pence on Tuesday ahead of a report on the UK's unemployment rate for April.

On Wednesday in New Zealand, data is released on electronic card spending for May at 10:45am.

At 8am the local currency edged up to 90.90 Australian cents from A90.82c ahead of a report on Australian consumer confidence.

The kiwi advanced to 87.21 yen from 86.91 yen.


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