Kiwi firmer

Press, 26 October 1989, Page 27

Kiwi firmer

PA ; ; Wellington The New Zealand dollar improved against the United States currency yesterday despite tailing the more active AustraJian unit most of the day. News that the Australian current account deficit was better than expected saw the kiwi fall from a high of Aust77.37c to close at Aust77.l4c. It had opened at Aust76.ssc and ’ had closed on Tuesday at Au5t76.64. After opening at U558.75/85c the kiwi rose to U559.22c after Standard and Poor’s downgraded Australia’s credit rating, but fell when the good current account was reported, closing at 59.15/ 25 from Tuesday’s finish of 59.05./15.

All eyes are now on the Australian consumer price index figure to be released today.

The Australian unit gained against the greenback locally, opening at U576.46/53c and closed at the high of 77.30/37.

Closing crossrates for the kiwi yesterday were 1.0809 marks, 36.83 p, 83.857 yen and 0.9528 Swiss francs.

The trade weighted in-.< dex was 61.0 at close, up one point from the opening. It was 61.0 on Tues-s day, 61.0 one week ago a and 61.1 four weeks ago. In New York on Tuesday (local time), the United States dollar closed lower, pushed down by persistent worries over the stock market.

The Dow Jones Industrial average ended down about four points after a roller-coaster session that saw the Dow off 85 points at one point. The weakness on Wall Street spilled over into the currency market, with the dollar falling . through key support at around 1.8400 marks.

The dollar closed at 1.8335/45 marks and at 141.33/43 yen, down from 1.8478/83 marks and 141.85/95 yen at Monday’s close.