KEY POINTS:
The New Zealand dollar was firmer today but the real action was in the US dollar market where the feature was a rise in the euro.
By 5pm the NZ dollar was at US51.25c from US50.92c in the morning and US50.36c at 5pm on Friday.
"Kiwi traded in a reasonably tight range today. The bigger mover on the day has been the euro," said Lloyd Cartwright, head of financial markets at Westpac Institutional Bank.
"We've had dollar weakness on the day and that's led the euro higher," he said.
The euro jumped on a Wall Street Journal reported that the US government may buy up to 40 per cent of Citibank's common stock. The US dollar had also been weak as investors sought to lock in that currency's steep gains.
Traders abandoned bets that the greenback would keep rising, and fears that Washington could be forced to nationalise banks.
The kiwi fell against the European currency to be buying 0.3968 euros at the local close from 0.3991 at 5pm Friday.
Against the yen, the NZ dollar was up to 47.60 from 47.37 at Friday's local close and up to A78.92c against the Australian dollar from A78.80c. The trade weighted index was 51.25 from 51.71 at 5pm Friday.
- NZPA
