Kiwi falls as election looms, hydrogen bomb tested
The kiwi declined to 71.43USc as at 8am in Wellington from 71.54USc in New York on Friday.
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The New Zealand dollar fell as political polls continued to show a close-run election race and after North Korea tested a hydrogen bomb.
The kiwi declined to 71.43USc as at 8am in Wellington from 71.54USc in New York on Friday. The trade-weighted index fell to 74.76 from 74.85.
The Newshub Reid Research poll over the weekend showed support for National at 43.3%, the lowest in decade in that poll, while Labour climbed 6.3 points to 39.4%. In the preferred prime minister stakes, Labour's Jacinda Ardern is on 29.9% and National's Bill English on 30.1%. Still, that's a better outcome for National than last week's 1 News poll which had Labour on 43% to National's 41%.
"If there is one thing we can take from the US dollar's performance over 2017, it is that currency markets don't like policy (and economic) uncertainty," said Cameron Bagrie, chief economist at ANZ Bank New Zealand, in a note. "It's the New Zealand dollar's turn to suffer, with the local election looking like a nail-biter."
Trading may be relatively subdued in financial markets today with the US set to mark Labor Day on September 4.
The kiwi traded at 78.19 yen, unchanged from Friday in New York and down from 78.84 yen in Wellington at the end of last week. North Korea said its sixth nuclear test was an advanced hydrogen bomb for use as a payload on long-range missiles. US president Donald Trump convened a meeting with his national security team on Sunday afternoon at the White House, Reuters reported.
The New Zealand dollar fell to 89.89Ac from 90.05Ac on Friday. It declined to 60.13 euro cents from 60.29 cents and edged down to 55.09 British pence from 55.15 pence. The kiwi traded at 4.6837 yuan from 4.6863 yuan.
(BusinessDesk)
Jonathan Underhill
Mon, 04 Sep 2017
Mon, 04 Sep 2017
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Kiwi falls as election looms, hydrogen bomb tested
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