KEY POINTS:
The New Zealand dollar made small gains against major currencies today, continuing its mild recovery after last week's plunge.
By 5pm the kiwi was buying US55.37c from US55c around 9.30am today and US54.70c at 5pm on Friday.
The NZ dollar was also up to 0.4140 euro at the local close from 0.4122 at 9.30am, and rose to 50.29 yen from 50.03 this morning.
Against the Australian dollar the kiwi edged down to A81.07c from A81.26c, while the trade weighted index was 54.70 at 5pm from 54.52 around 9.30am.
The lift in the NZ dollar came as a firmer tone to Asian stocks led to better appetite for risky high-yield currencies.
Last week the kiwi fell to a six-week low around US52.75c, hammered by the threat of a ratings downgrade, poor business confidence and comments by Prime Minister John Key that the economy might not grow in 2009.
BNZ Capital currency strategist Danica Hampton said that after last week's dramatic fall, from above US59c to US53c, investors did not need much of an excuse to take profits.
Investors will be watching for December quarter inflation data due out tomorrow, with November retail figures on Wednesday and December electronic card transactions on Thursday.
Currency rates:
NZ dlr/US dlr US55.37c US54.70c
NZ dlr/Aust dlr A81.07c A81.10c
NZ dlr/euro 0.4140 0.4132
NZ dlr/yen 50.29 49.40
NZ dlr/stg 37.16p 37.02p
NZ TWI 54.70 54.33
Aust dlr/US dlr US68.25c US67.45c
Euro/US dlr 1.3364 1.3236
US dlr/yen 90.81 90.25
- NZPA
