22 Oct 2013

Kiwi weakens in wait for US jobs data

7:25 pm on 22 October 2013

The New Zealand dollar weakened slightly against the currencies of all major trading partners on Tuesday ahead of key American jobs data due out in the early hours of Wednesday.

The senior client adviser at Bancorp Treasury Services, Peter Cavanaugh, said the currency was still well supported.

At the local close of business on Tuesday, the kiwi was trading at 84.45 US cents, 87.52 Australian cents, 52.37 British pence, 0.6179 euro and 83.02 yen.

The sharemarket was strong on Tuesday for a second consecutive day, the benchmark Top 50 Index gaining 29 points to 4832.

Harbour Asset Management managing director, Andrew Bascand, says technology stocks gained investors' favour today.

SLI Systems shares gained 8 cents to $2.00, Xero climbed $1.80 to $28.30 and Diligent shed 2 cents to $4.78 but earlier today rose as high as $5.09.

Pacific Edge shares soared more than 44 percent after it said a second US medical network has signed up for its Cxbladder test for diagnosing bladder cancer. The shares rose 31 cents to $1.04.