The New Zealand dollar edged down on Monday, though the currency did not stray far from its near three-month high, while the Australian dollar tread water during a public holiday. The kiwi slipped to $0.721 from Friday's peak of $0.7220 on Friday as the US dollar strengthened over the weekend.
"We suspect that the NZD is running into some headwinds following the strong recovery over the past couple of weeks. Q1 GDP data this week is expected to be on the soft side," said Jason Wong, BNZ currency strategist, in a research note. Investors were waiting for first quarter gross domestic product data due on Thursday. Economists expect post quarterly growth of around 0.7 percent, slightly below the central bank's forecast of 0.9 percent.
Across the Tasman sea, the Aussie was largely flat, trading around $0.7525 as the country took the day off for Queen's Birthday. The British pound slowly rose against the antipodean currencies, after hitting more than one-month lows on Friday due to uncertainty following the United Kingdom election. The sterling climbed to NZ$1.7713 against the kiwi from around NZ$1.7530, its lowest in six weeks, on Friday.
It rose to A$1.6949 against the Aussie from around A$1.6767 after a sharp 1.3 percent drop on Friday. New Zealand government bonds gained, sending yields 1 basis points lower towards the long end of the curve.
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