NZ dollar trading just below US72c

The New Zealand dollar dribbled lower today after another volatile session on Tuesday night.

Investors are focusing on the United States Federal Open Market Committee's policy statement at 8.15am tomorrow NZ time.

Economists do not expect a change in the low interest rate policy in the US but previous statements have included shifts on policies to stimulate the US economy.

The NZ dollar was US71.92c at 5pm from US71.99c at 8am and US72.03c at 5pm yesterday.

The NZ dollar has been volatile, trading between US71c and US72.50c in the last 24 hours, BNZ Capital senior strategist Danica Hampton said.

There was some selling of the Australian dollar today in response to mixed Australian retail sales data.

"But really it is a case of people taking risk off the table in the lead up to the Fed decision tonight.

"I think people are quite uncertain about the global outlook again, and at the same time the data has been mixed."

The NZ dollar was little changed at A79.73c at 5pm from A79.80c at the same time yesterday.

It eased to 64.89 yen from 65.02 yen and to 0.4883 euro from 0.4874 yesterday.

The trade weighted index was 64.86 from 64.91 yesterday.

- NZPA