Kiwi dollar steady above US70 cents

The New Zealand dollar kept its head well above US70 cents overnight.

It dropped as low as US70.13c just after midnight but recovered half a US cent about 3am to be worth US70.67c at 8am, down from US70.73c at 5pm yesterday.

The ANZ Morning Brief reported extremely quiet trading overnight, with several Asian countries, including Japan, on holiday.

It predicted the dollar would "remain within the US70c handle" through today's trading.

Second quarter current account figures are out today, and the bank predicted an improvement in the deficit from 8.5 to 6.7 per cent of GDP, which could provide some upside for the dollar.

The kiwi also gained against the Australian dollar to A81.90c, up from A81.69c yesterday.

Against the euro, the NZ dollar was little changed at 0.4816 at 8am. Against the Japanese yen it was up to 65.06, from 64.77 yesterday.

The kiwi also dipped overnight against the British pound but recovered to be worth 43.60p at 8am, up from 43.55 yesterday.

The trade weighted index rose to 64.62 from 64.57 yesterday.

Meanwhile, the US dollar rose broadly on Monday, hitting a near two-week high against the yen as investors reduced bets against the greenback ahead of a monetary policy meeting by the Federal Reserve this week.

In afternoon trading in New York, the ICE Futures dollar index, which tracks the greenback versus a basket of six currencies, rose 0.4 per cent to 76.746 , after climbing to 77.108, its highest level since September 10.

Against the yen, the dollar was up 0.8 per cent at 92.05 yen, near a peak of about 92.53 yen, its highest since September 9, according to Reuters charts.

The euro slipped 0.3 per cent to $1.4672, easing from $1.4766 hit late last week, which was its strongest since September 2008, according to Reuters data.

The pound hit a five-month low versus the euro at 90.78 pence after the Bank of England said the pound's long-run sustainable exchange rate may have fallen due to an increased focus on Britain's economic imbalances.

- NZPA