Currency: Dollar little changed

The New Zealand dollar traded in a fairly narrow range on a day in which the US dollar steadied.

By 5pm the NZ dollar was at US64.35c, little changed from US64.53c at 8am and US64.50c at 5pm on Friday.

It moved to the higher end of its range on news that New Zealand's trade surplus in May was its largest as a percentage of exports in 16 years as imports fell heavily.

Strength in building consent data was attributed to approvals for sports stadiums.

The US dollar regained some ground today after falling on Friday on a renewed call by China for a super-sovereign reserve currency. This was seen as a challenge to the status of the US dollar as a reserve currency.

"In Australasia, with the end of quarter upon us, the markets remain mostly driven by offshore events," Rankin Treasury said.

BNZ Capital senior strategist Danica Hampton said sentiment towards the NZ dollar remained fairly negative, with investors becoming increasingly worried about the fragility of New Zealand's recovery.

The NZ dollar was little changed against the Australian dollar at A80.25c by 5pm from A79.96c on Friday, and against the European currency was at 0.4586 euro from 0.4589 on Friday.

The NZ dollar slipped to 61.42 yen from 61.85 at Friday's local close, while the trade weighted index was 60.72 from 60.84 on Friday.

Currency rates:

5pm today 5pm Friday

NZ dlr/US dlr US64.35c US64.50c

NZ dlr/Aust dlr A80.25c A79.96c

NZ dlr/euro 0.4586 0.4589

NZ dlr/yen 61.42 61.85

NZ dlr/stg 39.05p 39.32p

NZ TWI 60.72 60.84

Aust dlr/US dlr 80.15c 80.62c

Euro/US dlr 1.4028 1.4055

US dlr/yen 95.48 95.87

- NZPA