Kiwi pares gains

The New Zealand dollar pared some of its recent gains today, falling to a new low for the week after weakness in Asian markets despite better than expected Gross Domestic Product data for the second quarter.

The kiwi recently traded at US82.46c, down form US82.79c at 8am. On the Trade Weighted Index against major trading partners' currencies it was at 73.40, up from 73.31 in the morning.

HiFX senior currency strategist Dan Bell said the kiwi had briefly shot up over US83.00c after news GDP rose 0.6 per cent in the three months to June.

"But since then there has been an overall bearish tone to markets with Asia mostly down, so it looks like the kiwi has got more downside risk overnight. We're already a good 60 basis points, over half a cent, down from this morning's highs."

On the crosses, the kiwi recently traded at 79.20 Australian cents, up from A78.92c in the morning. It was at 64.42 Japanese yen, down from 64.92 Japanese yen earlier. It fell to 63.39 euro cents from 63.44 euro cents earlier and eased to 50.88 pence from 51.05 pence in the morning.

Bell said the kiwi looked set to get back down to US82.20c which would open up a move back towards US81.50c.

"There is a really quite a negative tone for the Asian equities market and as QE3 euphoria continues to wear off and markets question global growth outlooks," Bell said.

He expected the kiwi to trade between US81.80c and US83.00c overnight, with a bias towards the downside.  

- © Fairfax NZ News