Kiwi drifts ahead of Reserve Bank call

The New Zealand dollar struggled to rally against the greenback overnight, tracking sideways ahead of the Reserve Bank's monetary policy statement tomorrow.

The kiwi recently traded at US82.47 cents, up slightly from US82.42c at 5pm yesterday, while on the Trade Weighted Index of major trading partners' currencies it rose to 76.10 from 76.08.

ASB Institutional head of FX sales Tim Kelleher said the kiwi was still outperforming on some currency pairs, but there was very little activity to trade on.

"It's basically where we left it yesterday, and not surprising given we've got the Reserve Bank [statement] tomorrow."

Kelleher said the official cash rate was almost certain to remain at its record low of 2.5 per cent, but the market would be tuned in closely to Governor Graeme Wheeler's rhetoric.

"The market expectation is that Wheeler will be talking about the drought and the currency levels and a few other things. The risk is probably for the kiwi to drift slightly lower."

On the crosses, the kiwi dollar slipped to 79.93 Australian cents from A80.16c yesterday, and 79.15 yen, down from 79.59 yen.

It opened at 63.30 euro cents, up slightly from 63.27 euro cents, and was little changed at 55.32 British pence.

Kelleher expected it to hover between US82.25c and US82.75c in the day, little changed from the range of trading overnight.

- © Fairfax NZ News