NZ dollar hits five-year high against yen

THE New Zealand dollar rose to a five-year high against the yen following the Bank of Japan's announcement last week of moves to end deflation and weaken its currency.

The kiwi rose to 82.61 yen and earlier reached 82.68 yen, the highest since May 2008, from 82.21 yen in New York on Friday. It slipped to 84.13 US cents from 84.31 cents as equity markets fell in the wake of weak US payrolls data.

Bank of Japan governor Haruhiko Kuroda last week announced plans to double monthly bond purchases to about YEN7.5 trillion ($NZ92.42 billion) yen as he seeks to achieve 2 per cent annual inflation in two years.

Billionaire investor George Soros and Pacific Investment Management bond fund manager Bill Gross have both said the plan risks weakening the yen, Bloomberg reported.

"With the BOJ's game changer we can expect more strength in the kiwi against the yen," said Mike Jones, strategist at Bank of New Zealand.

Mr Jones also expects further deterioration in US dollar sentiment after the Labor Department said payrolls increased by 88,000 workers in March against forecasts of 200,000 new jobs, adding to concern the world's biggest economy is experiencing a further bout of weakness.

The trade-weighted index edged up to 77.69 from 77.64 in late New York trading on Friday.

The kiwi slipped to 81.09 Australian cents from 81.23 cents and was little changed at 54.96 British pence. It was at 64.86 euro cents from 64.89 cents.

View the original article here

Apple dives, Dow five-year high

In a Wednesday, Dec. 7, 2011 file photo, a person stands near the Apple logo at the company's new store in Grand Central Terminal, in New York. If Apple had been added to the Dow in June 2009, the last time there were serious rumors that it would happen, the average would be about 2,500 points higher than it is today and well above its all-time high.(AP Photo/Mark Lennihan, File) Source: AP

SHARES of Apple hit their lowest level in more than a year overnight, continuing a decline hastened by the company's last quarterly earnings report.

Apple Inc stock touched as low as $US419 overnight - its weakest point since January 2012 - before closing down 2.4 per cent at $US420.05.

The Cupertino, California, company's January 23 report signalled that its fast growth phase, rare for a company of its size, may be coming to an end.

Apple's stock price peaked in September at $US705.07 on the day the iPhone 5 was released. With the overnight close, the stock has dropped 40 per cent from the record high.

Meanwhile, the Dow Jones Industrial Average defied the effects of new US spending cuts and pushed to a new five-year high overnight.

At the closing bell, the Dow picked up 38.16 points (0.27 per cent) to 14,127.82, its second highest close ever and less than 40 points from the all-time record set on October 9, 2007.

The broad-based S&P 500 increased 7.00 (0.46 per cent) to 1525.20, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index gained 12.29 (0.39 per cent) to 3182.03.

The gains came after US budget cuts took effect on Saturday following the failure of Washington policy makers to agree on a compromise package.

"Yes the sequester has been activated, but it will take time to have effect on the economic data," said Peter Cardillo of Rockwell Global Capital. The markets continue to show much "resilience".

Analysts pointed to remarks from the Federal Reserve's number two official that reaffirmed the Fed's aggressive stimulus policy.

Janet Yellen, vice chairwoman of the Fed board of governors, said in a speech that the Fed intends to "keep monetary policy highly accomodative until well into the recovery".

Yahoo gained 3.5 per cent after earning an upgrade from Barclays, while other big tech stocks were mixed: Apple fell 2.4 per cent, Google added 1.9 per cent and Oracle picked up 1.2 per cent.

Oil-services company Transocean inched 0.1 per cent higher after besting earnings forecasts and reinstating its dividend.

Oil company Hess picked up 3.5 per cent after saying it would exit downstream businesses and focus on exploration and production.

The news lifted leading independent refiners, including Marathon Petroleum Corp. (+5.6 per cent), Phillips 66 (+2.8 per cent) and Valero Energy (+4.0 per cent).

Among retailers, Dow components Walmart and Home Depot picked up 1.9 per cent and 1.8 per cent respectively, while Target gained 3.6 per cent.

Bond prices fell. The yield on the 10-year Treasury bond rose to 1.88 per cent from 1.85 per cent on Saturday, while the yield on the 30-year jumped to 3.09 per cent from 3.07 per cent. Bond prices and yields move inversely.

With AP.

View the original article here