The New Zealand dollar declined against most of its major rivals in early Asian trading on Monday. The NZ dollar eased from a 2-1/2 month high against the yen and a multi-day high against the euro. Against the Australian dollar, the kiwi fell to a 3-week low.
The New Zealand stock market is closed today for Easter Monday.
The New Zealand dollar dropped to a 3-week low of 1.3067 against the Australian dollar by 10:15 pm ET. On the downside, the New Zealand currency may target the 1.3120 support level, if it slides further. Currently, the aussie-kiwi pair is quoted at 1.3060.
The New Zealand dollar that rose to a 2-1/2 month high of 67.03 against the yen at the beginning of the session pulled back and hit as low as 66.65 around 10:05 pm ET. At present, the kiwi-yen pair is quoted at 66.70.
Against the US dollar, the New Zealand currency slipped to 0.7076 before gaining some ground around 8:50 pm ET. The kiwi-greenback pair is presently quoted at 0.7062.
The U.S. payroll employment showed a notable increase in the month of March, according to a report released by the Labor Department on Friday, although the increase in jobs was somewhat smaller than economists had been anticipating.
The report showed that non-farm payroll employment increased by 162,000 jobs in March following a revised decrease of 14,000 jobs in February. Economists had expected employment to increase by about 184,000 jobs compared to the loss of 36,000 jobs originally reported for the previous month.
While the increase in employment fell short of economist estimates, it still marked the fastest pace of job growth since March of 2007.
Additionally, the Labor Department said that the unemployment rate held steady at 9.7% in March, unchanged from the previous month and in line with economist estimates. The increase in employment was partly due to job growth in the temporary help services and health care sectors, which added 40,000 jobs and 27,000 jobs, respectively.
The NZ dollar that fell to a 4-day low of 1.9086 against the euro at the start of the session retreated to a low of 1.9183 around 9:45 pm ET. Currently, the euro-kiwi pair is trading at 1.9177.
There are no major economic reports due out in the European session.
From the U.S., pending home sales for February and the ISM non-manufacturing composite index for March are expected in the New York session.