The New Zealand dollar rose against the euro to near the highest
level since notes of the common currency were first issued in 2002, with
signs the region's leaders are far from finding a solution to the
ballooning debt-crisis.
The New Zealand dollar traded at 61.39
euro cents just before 8am this morning, up from 61.05 cents at 5pm on
Friday. The kiwi traded at 78.01 US cents, little changed from 78.12
cents on Friday.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French
President Nicolas Sarkozy will meet in Berlin tonight for the first time
this year in an attempt to flesh out a new fiscal rulebook following
the December 9 leaders' summit.
The economic toll of the debt
crisis is becoming more evident with Euro-zone retail trade falling 0.8
per cent in November from October, data from the European Union's
statistics office Eurostar showed. A monthly poll by Reuters had
forecast a 0.2 per cent monthly fall.
"There has been continuous
failure by the Euro nations to sort out their issues," said Stuart Ive,
senior currency strategist at HiFX. "In some form or the other the euro
will fail - it is not going to be in the current form that it is in
now."
"The kiwi is going to remain dominated by the current (European) crisis," said Ive. "The kiwi will track higher."
In
the US on Friday, economic data suggested a recovery in the world's
largest economy is gaining momentum, with non-farm payrolls rising in
December and the jobless rate dropping to a near three-year low of 8.5
per cent, Reuters reported.
The kiwi rose to 76.35 Australian
cents from 76.13 cents. It slipped to 59.86 yen from 60.28 yen and was
at 50.56 British pence from 50.37 pence.
The trade-weighted index was up to 70.02 from 69.95.
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