KEY POINTS:
The New Zealand dollar maintained much of the momentum it gained offshore on Friday , thanks to US dollar weakness and a firmer Australian currency.
The kiwi kicked off the morning on a high of US77.48c before hitting a spot of profit-taking and drifting to a close of US77.21c.
It was a healthy rise compared with a near-four month low around US75.35c on Thursday night and Friday's close of US76.47c.
Meanwhile, the Australia dollar hit a 24-year peak of around US95.81c before trimming its gains to US95.33c.
Against its resources-rich neighbour, the kiwi c losed just under the day's high of A81c.
The trade-weighted index rose to 68.85 from 68.45.
Westpac currency analyst Michael Gordon noted the (kiwi-aussie) cross had slipped to its lowest level since August 2006 last week around A80.60c , and that trend was expected to continue as some began to speculate about the Australian dollar reaching parity with the US.
Friday night's weak greenback was sparked by a negative University of Michigan consumer confidence index, which dropped to its lowest level since June 1980.
Today the US dollar began to recover against the yen , an d Mr Gordon said the markets were reacting to mixed data after a run of better than expected economic news.
"The US dollar's been responding more to the weaker stuff than the stronger numbers which I think suggests the speculative community has got long the US dollar and is getting a bit nervous."
Local markets this week are looking to a Government budget on Thursday with expectations of personal tax cuts.
Currency rates:
NZ dlr/US dlr US77.21c US76.47c
NZ dlr/Aust dlr A80.99c A80.87c
NZ dlr/euro 0.4961 0.4938
NZ dlr/yen 80.50 80.01
NZ dlr/stg 39.47p 39.25p
NZ TWI 68.85 68.45
Australian dollar US95.33c US94.58c
Euro/US dollar 1.5564 1.5488
US dollar/yen 104.24 104.64
- NZPA
