JASON KRUPP
The New Zealand dollar fell against the greenback as a run of weaker Chinese data weighed on growth-linked currencies amid bets the world's second biggest economy may be slowing at a faster pace than originally thought.
The kiwi recently traded at US81.91 cents, down US82.61 at 5pm on Friday, while on the Trade Weighted Index of major trading partners' currencies it rose to 73.20 from 73.13.
Trading in the New York session saw the kiwi and the Australian dollar come under renewed selling pressure after China's trade deficit hit US$31.5 billion in February as exports slumped, down 23.6 per cent on the previous month. Coupled with a surge in commodity imports, that marked the country's biggest trade deficit in 22 years.
Tim Kelleher, head of institutional FX sales at ASB Institutional, said the "pretty poor trade data won't help things this morning", with the nervousness pushing investors towards the safe haven appeal of the US dollar.
The Chinese numbers took some of shine off an otherwise risk-on session, with US shares rallying on the back of improved non-farm payroll numbers, which showed the world's biggest economy added 227,000 job in February. The market had been betting on a 200,000 increase.
Sentiment was also buoyed after Greece convinced over three-quarters of its private sector creditors to swap their bonds for longer dated securities, a deal the heavily indebted country needed to clinch before receiving 130 billion euros in rescue funds.
Kelleher said the impact was minimal as investors had already priced it in, calling it a case of "buy the rumour, sell the fact".
On the crosses, the kiwi recently traded at 77.50 Australian cents, little changed from A77.55c on Friday, and it rose to 67.64 yen from 67.53. It gained to 62.44 euro cents from 62.30 euro cents previously, and was mostly stable against the pound, recently trading at 52.26 pence from 51.23 pence on Friday.
The kiwi may trade between a range of US81.50c and US82.25c, Kelleher said, with further downside moves expected.
- ? Fairfax NZ News
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