KEY POINTS:
The New Zealand dollar moved little against the greenback but came under pressure from the Australian dollar after signals of higher interest rates there.
The kiwi closed at US78.91c against the greenback, just off its close on Friday at US78.96c.
Westpac analyst Michael Gordon said trading had been quiet in part because China and Japan were still on holiday.
But a key mover on the kiwi-aussie cross had been a warning from Australia's central bank's monetary policy that further rates hikes would not be stemmed by a US slowdown.
It opened around A88.04c but moved down to a close of A87.49c after the RBA statement (A88.10c on Friday).
"I think their view is quite relevant for New Zealand as well, because they are certainly facing similar conditions with regard to the global economy, at least," Mr Gordon said.
He said there was scope for the Australian dollar to move higher after breaking through US90c today, "and the kiwi will probably piggyback on some of that, but it's likely to underperform".
The kiwi's performance against the US dollar was "tricky" to predict, he said.
"The US data has been pretty poor lately but the financial markets had already gone quite a long way towards factoring in a US recession so in a way, the news is only just starting to catch up with prevailing opinion.
"Where it goes to next is a tough one to predict at the moment."
Against the yen, the NZ dollar slipped to 84.62 from 84.71 on Friday, and the trade weighted index dropped to 72.74 from 72.95.
Currency rates:
NZ dlr/US dlr US78.91c US78.96c
NZ dlr/Aust dlr A87.49c A88.10c
NZ dlr/euro 0.5429 0.5448
NZ dlr/yen 84.62 84.71
NZ dlr/stg 40.50p 40.61p
NZ TWI 72.74 72.95
Australian dollar US90.18c US89.62c
Euro/US dollar 1.4529 1.4487
US dollar/yen 107.28 107.32
- NZPA
