5 Jul 2010

NZ dollar down on US jobs data

6:36 pm on 5 July 2010

The NZ dollar fell below 69 US cents on Monday, following disappointing employment figures in the United States on Friday.

At 11.55am the kiwi was trading at 68.54 US cents. It later recovered a little to close the day at 69.02.

The job figures were the latest in a series of weak economic data that has sparked fresh fears that the global recovery is at risk.

The US Labour Department says about 125,000 jobs were lost in June - the first time since Octover thatv jobs had been shed on a month-on-month basis.

The private sector created 83,000 jobs, which was an improvement on May but below March and April's totals.

FAO Economics chief economist Robert Brusca says more jobs need to be created.

Consumer confidence low

Overall, the US unemployment rate fell to 9.5% in June from 9.7% in May. But analysts say that was due to people no longer looking for work and therefore not officially counted as unemployed.

High unemployment has kept consumer confidence low, preventing retail sales from growing rapidly.

Consumer spending accounts for about two-thirds of US economic activity and there are concerns that the economy will grow only modestly until more people are in work.