New Zealand Dollar Takes a Breather After Wild Ride

   By Rebecca Howard

        WELLINGTON, New Zealand--The New Zealand dollar pared some of its losses after taking a tumble on weaker-than-expected economic growth in the first quarter.

        In late Wellington trading, the New Zealand dollar was at US$0.6927 compared with US$0.6896 and at A$0.8906 versus A$0.8928 late Thursday.

        The Kiwi is ending the week on a fairly quiet note after "the carnage of the past 24 hours" on the back of Thursday's weak first-quarter gross domestic product number, said Western Union Business Solutions Corporate Dealing Manager Chris Hunter.

        Mr. Hunter said the New Zealand dollar's only hope of paring some of its losses after the central bank cut rates and flagged more to come was domestic data and "the data continued its disappointing downward trend."

        Looking ahead, he said the Kiwi will remain under pressure, in particular ahead of the next central bank meeting on July 23 with most investors now expecting another 25 basis point rate cut.

        ANZ Bank noted interest-rate pricing has moved to an 80% chance of a July cut and about an 80% chance of two cuts by the December meeting. It expects the New Zealand dollar to hit US$0.66 by the end of the year "but we expect subsequent declines to slow and see increased volatility.

        In the very short term, continued worries that Greece might default on its debt and exit the eurozone is likely to dominate sentiment.

        Write to Rebecca Howard at rebecca.howard@wsj.com

        (END) Dow Jones Newswires

        June 19, 2015 00:13 ET (04:13 GMT)

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