The New Zealand dollar drifted lower today after rising during the weekend.
It was at US71.12c at 5pm, down from US71.41c at 8am but up from the US70.38c at 5pm on Friday. It moved from below US70c around 10pm on Friday to peak around US71.55c around 6am Saturday.
The NZ dollar drifted lower today after business confidence eased in the June National Bank of New Zealand survey.
Inflation expectations jumped to 3.1 percent, the highest since December 2008. A net 39 percent of respondents intend to put their prices up.
National Bank attributed the trend to the rise in goods and services tax from October 1 and said it should not unduly alarm the Reserve Bank of New Zealand.
"Our main indicators for NZ dollar guidance are pointing lower this week. New Zealand economic data is likely to be neutral, NZ dollar technicals are negative, and global risk appetite is fragile," Westpac said.
US stocks staged a comeback on Friday afternoon (local time), while oil prices shot higher, fuelling risk appetite and prompting buying in the euro and the Australian, Canadian and NZ dollars -- four currencies that have become symbols of risk appetite in the developed world, moving in tandem with US stocks.
But the Australian and NZ sharemarkets were weaker today.
The NZ dollar was at 0.5742 euro at 5pm from 0.5715 at the same time on Friday. It was at 63.60 yen from 63 yen on Friday.
Against the Australian dollar, the NZ dollar was at A81.20c from A81.66c on Friday.
The trade weighted index was 68.05 from 67.77 at 5pm on Friday.
