Currency: Kiwi dollar's bull run continues

The sun shone again on the New Zealand dollar as overseas interest propelled it to fresh 3-1/2 year highs.

At 5pm the kiwi dollar was holding steady above the US54c mark, having peaked at US54.21c during the session. It closed yesterday at US53.88c.

' 'It's found good support despite the fact it's hit new highs and still looking as though there's more topside potential," said a local dealer.

He forecast the kiwi would trade between US53.90c and US54.40c overnight.

The kiwi has gained about 3.6 per cent against the US dollar in the first two weeks of 2003 and about 2 per cent on a trade weighted basis.

The Australian unit was equally buoyant, charging to US58.60c (US58.33c yesterday).

"Really it's a case of the positivity or negativity of the US dollar that's probably the driving force behind it, with a very, very strong focus on the interest rate differential as well," said the broker.

"The Australian dollar's finding a lot of demand out of Japan and on euro cash issues... people are looking for places to be apart from the US and I think they see as as being as good as any other place."

Meanwhile, the greenback had a listless session after poor jobs data on Friday and ahead of retail sales tonight.

Overnight, the euro slipped about a third of a per cent against the US dollar to $1.0536, giving back roughly half the gains it put on Friday. But it drifted against the yen, falling a quarter per cent to 118.95 yen.

Here, the euro sank to 1.0554 US dollars (1.0566) and the greenback was at 118.89 yen (119.19 yen).

Against its major trading partners, the kiwi was flat at A92.38c, 0.5129 euro (0.5100), 64.35 yen (64.22), 33.76 pence (33.51), and 0.7494 Swiss francs (0.7442).

The Australian dollar was steady at $NZ1.0825.

The trade-weighted index was at 60.03 (59.81), 90-day bank bills were at 5.89 per cent (5.90), and the monetary conditions index was at plus 139 (plus 121).

On the debt market, the April 2004s were at 5.70 per cent (5.71), the November 2006s were at 5.89 per cent (5.91), the November 2011s were at 6.16 per cent (6.19), and the April 2013s were at 6.19 per cent (6.23).

- NZPA