N.Z. dollar firm

Press, 4 March 1988, Page 12

N.Z. dollar firm

PA ! Wellington The New Zealand dollar firmed yesterday and dealers said its outlook was bullish in the medium term.

The I kiwi ) closed at U566.27/p4 against its open of U566.12/I9 and [Wednesday's Close of U566.23/33. : Its traded high was) U 566.35 and its low;US66c. ) While [some dealers expect ) the kiwi ltd trade in a narrow j range at 1 its present level,-1 others predict it; will move up I to . US67c by [the eiid of March. : I ■ ) ’ All agreed that stability had at last returned to the market. (In spite of the abundance of bad economic news and Government attempts to undermine the in the past two mbnths. the kiwi had held i firm,) they said. “If that is the way it (the kiwi) handles [the bad news. God helb us if there is any good news cbming up," a senior Westpat dealer said. ' f II - L

He added [that some dealers were celebrating the third anniversary of the kiwi's floating today with the prediction that it would reach US7Oc by late April.

The kiwi was returning to being regarded by international traders as one of the most attractive currencies to buy, dealers said. On the cross the kiwi was worth Aust9l.6sc, 1.1245 marks, 37.52 p, 85.66 yen and 0.9296 Swiss francs. The Reserve Bank trade weighted index closed at 66.5 against its 9 a.m. fix of 66.6. In Sydney, the Australian dollar rose on the Reserve Bank's trade weighted index to 53.6 points from Wednesday’s 53.3. It was; higher at 40.’97/O2p from 40.63/68 on Wednesday, 1.0152/66 Swiss francs from | 1.0040/50, 1.2288/04 marks from 1.2168/ 84, 1L0924 N.Z. 'dlrs from 1.0867 and 93.54/65 yen from 92.67/77.