NZ dollar may sink below 70 US cents

The kiwi dollar may drop below 70 US cents as strong job growth in the US stokes speculation of a US rate hike.

The New Zealand dollar fell, and may drop below 70 US cents for the first time since 2010.

Strong US jobs growth stoked speculation of a US rate hike, while local interest rates have more chance of falling.

The kiwi traded at 70.48 US cents at 5pm in Wellington, down from 71.39 cents in Wellington at the end of last week.

The US dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of currencies, rose after US employers added 280,000 jobs last month, ahead of the 225,000 expected and the biggest gain in five months.

That bolstered the case for the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates as soon as September, while some traders are betting the Reserve Bank of New Zealand could cut rates at its policy review on Thursday.

"The main positioning is long US dollars and a fairly soft interest rate outlook for New Zealand," said Alex Hill, head of corporate FX at NZForex.

"It's not going to surprise too many forecasters to say we're expecting a 6 in front of the kiwi this year."

The kiwi may trade between 67.75 US cents and 74 cents this week, according to a BusinessDesk survey of 10 currency analysts. Eight expect the kiwi to fall and two say it may rise.

The New Zealand dollar traded at 92.57 Australian cents, from 92.65 cents on Friday.

Australian markets are closed today for the Queens Birthday public holiday.

The kiwi weakened to 46.18 British pence from 46.46 pence on Friday and traded at 4.3735 yuan from 4.4273 yuan.

It declined to 63.46 euro cents from 63.64 cents and fell to 88.45 yen from 88.82 yen.


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Source: AAP


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