The New Zealand dollar bounced a little in the last hour of trading today as investors moved to square up positions.
At 5pm, the kiwi was at US41.28c from US41.13c at Friday's close, having hovered below US41.20c for most of the day.
"New Zealand has just been quietly bid all day. The New Zealand dollar has finally come into its own in the last hour of trading and has been pushed up to its highs," one local currency dealer said.
The kiwi's rise came down to market positioning, rather than any major developments on the data front, he said.
"News out there is fairly thin and scarce, especially after last week which was such a quiet week. The market was looking for more downside (for the kiwi) than it was going to get and the market has got caught a bit short and (kiwi) has just been squeezed higher."
The Australian dollar was nudged a tad lower today, ending local trade at US51.73c (US51.79c at Friday's close).
Tomorrow's National Bank survey of business opinion and trade and inflation data due out later in the week would provide the kiwi with more direction, the dealer said.
He expected the kiwi to trade between US41.20c and US41.55c overnight.
On the kiwi-aussie cross, the New Zealand dollar was trading at A79.79c (A79.41c at Friday's close), while the aussie was buying $NZ1.2533 ($NZ1.2589).
On the other crosses, the kiwi was trading at 0.4691 euros (0.4676 at Friday's close), 51.22 yen (50.91), 29.18 pence (29.11), 0.9177 marks (0.9146), and 0.6865 Swiss francs (0.6827).
The trade-weighted index was at 49.49 (49.31), the 90-day bank bills were steady at 4.89 per cent and the monetary conditions index was at minus 926 (minus 946).
On the debt market, the March 2002 bonds were at 4.78 per cent (4.76), the April 2004s were at 5.48 per cent (5.53), the November 2006s were at 6.06 per cent (6.07), and the November 2011s at 6.59 per cent (6.60).
- NZPA
Currency: Kiwi bounces in late trade
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