The New Zealand dollar edged down to $0.596 on Friday but remained close to one-month highs amid a weak US dollar. The greenback came under pressure as slightly hotter US consumer inflation data and a surge in jobless claims kept expectations high on Federal Reserve interest rate cuts next week and beyond. At home, however, a dovish policy outlook from the Reserve Bank of New Zealand continues to weigh on the currency. RBNZ Governor Christian Hawkesby on Thursday reaffirmed the central bank’s projection for its official cash rate to fall by another 50bps by year-end, with the pace of easing to be guided by incoming data—particularly next week’s GDP report. Meanwhile, fresh data showed that New Zealand’s manufacturing sector slipped back into contraction in August, underscoring the fragile state of the economy. For the week, the kiwi is on track to post a gain of more than 1%.