Kiwi falls v euro, yen as Trump Jr emails weigh on greenback

The New Zealand dollar fell against the euro and the yen, which rose against the greenback after Donald Trump Jr released a string of emails that indicated Russia was trying to help his father's campaign to become US president.

The kiwi dropped to 62.95 euro cents as at 8:30am in Wellington from 63.51 cents late yesterday and fell to 82.23 yen from 82.72 yen. The kiwi declined to 72.20 US cents from 72.33 cents yesterday.

The email chain between Trump's eldest son and PR consultant Rob Goldstone show the publicist helped arrange a meeting in June 2016 with lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya on the basis she could provide information that would damage presidential election rival Hillary Clinton. Veselnitskaya has denied having links to the Russian government and Trump Jr said he released the emails "to be totally transparent". Meanwhile, ahead of Federal Reserve chair Janet Yellen's testimony to the US House panel, Fed Governor Lael Brainard indicated he would take a cautious approach to further rate hikes this year while Minneapolis Fed president Neel Kashkari said he didn't see much chance of the US economy overheating.

"The USD is under pressure this morning following some damning headlines for Trump's team," said Jason Wong, currency strategist at Bank of New Zealand, in a note. "We think the testimony (from Yellen) will support the prevailing Fed view that it is on a clear path towards normalisation of monetary policy."

The kiwi weakened yesterday after figures showed retail spending on credit and debit cards was unchanged in seasonally adjusted terms in June from May when it fell 0.4 percent, with lower fuel prices offsetting the expected gains in spending from the Lions rugby tour.

The kiwi fell to 95 Australian cents from 95.61 cents yesterday as the Australian dollar also gained after data that pointed to upbeat business conditions across the Tasman. The currency fell to 4.9130 yuan from 4.9210 yuan and traded at 56.20 pence from 56.16 pence. The trade-weighted index fell to 77.54 from 77.79.

(BusinessDesk)