Dollar eases

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SINGAPORE: The dollar eased versus the yen on Thursday as a recent rally tied to bets on another U.S. interest rate hike this year lost steam, while the New Zealand dollar rose after its central bank stopped short of aggressively trying to talk down the currency.

The New Zealand dollar was the big mover during Asian trade, rising 0.4 percent on the day to $0.7248, edging back in the direction of a four-month peak of $0.7320 set last week.

The kiwi rose after New Zealand´s central bank played down the recent rise in the currency, while it kept interest rates steady at record lows as analysts had widely expected. "The main takeaways from the statement were pretty much in line with the last statement.

They´re still optimistic and positive on the medium-term growth outlook," said Peter Dragicevich, G10 FX strategist for Nomura in Singapore. "It could be some people were looking for the RBNZ to be a little bit more forceful in their rhetoric around the exchange rate given how it´s rallied the last few weeks," he said, adding the absence of such jawboning probably helped give the kiwi a lift. The U.S. dollar eased 0.2 percent against the yen to 111.15, pulling away from a three-week high of 111.79 yen reached on Tuesday. —Reuters