Kiwi dollar close to US59c

Press, 11 June 1987, Page 25

Kiwi dollar close to US59c

Trading in the New Zealand dollar was the heaviest it has been for about two weeks on the local foreign exchange market, dealers said yesterday. The Kiwi opened at 6U50.5821/28 against Tuesday’s close of 0.5810/ 17, and shot up as high as 0.5888/90 in : active trading, before closing at 0.5858/65. Strong overnight buying from Asia and New York, and a weaker US dollar, helped push the Kiwi up to 0.5840, dealers said. From there, stop-loss orders took it even higher, but once the market got itself long, profittakers brought it back again, they said. The . Reserve Bank trade-weighted index closed at 66.4, down on its

9 a.m. fix of 66.7. On the cross the New Zealand dollar was worth AustBl.79c, 1.0494 marks, 35.28 pence, and 83.189 yen. The Australian dollar firmed to 5U50.7163/68 against Tuesday’s close of 0.7145/50, and sterling rose to 1U51.6656/66 from ,1.6381 on Tuesday. The cause of some of yesterday’s movement — the US dollar — dipped to 1.7870/80 marks and 141.95/05 yen from Tuesday closing positions of 1.8032/42 and 143.05/15 respectively. Australian traders said the short-term trend for the Australian dollar will hinge on the U.S. dollar’s response to the Venice Summit of major industrial nations.

In Australia the U.S. dollar eased after early gains to 1.7955/58 marks and 142.60/70 yen after highs of 1.8055 and 143.37 and compared with New York’s closings of 1.8035/ 45 and 143.45/55. The Australian dollar was weaker on the other major currencies at 1.2840 marks from Friday’s 1.2938 finish, 102.03 yen from 102.68, 1.0662 Swiss francs from 1.0729, 0.4357 sterling against 0.4385 and 1.2294 New Zealand dollars from 1.2359. The Reserve Bank’s trade-weighted index was set at 55.6 from an early 55.7.

A Westpac Banking Corp analyst said the U.S. dollar market direction was confused, as the mar-

ket appears technically stronger but sentiment is for a softer U.S. dollar. The U.S. dollar closed lower after a lack of positive news from the Venice Summit, while sterling soared on feverish buying ahead of Thursday’s general election in Britain, dealers said.

The thrust of the comments from Venice was familiar stuff to the market U.K. Chancellor of the Exchequer Nigel Lawson said the Group of Seven industrialised countries agreed unanimously a further dollar drop would be counterproductive, while U.K. Government officials reported that the G-7 will strengthen co-ordination of their economic policies.