KEY POINTS:
The New Zealand dollar made modest gains against the currencies of the United States and Japan, as the greenback and yen weakened on fresh government aid for US banks.
The aid eased some investor concerns about stress in the financial sector, reducing safe-haven flows into the US and Japanese currencies.
News that Bank of America received US$20 billion ($36.9 billion) in new government capital boosted high-yielding currencies, such as the NZ dollar, and helped the euro rebound from a fall after the European Central Bank interest rate cut.
About 9.30am today the kiwi was buying US55c, up from US54.70c at 5pm on Friday.
The NZ dollar also lifted to 50.03 yen from 49.40, but eased to 0.4122 euro from 0.4132. The kiwi edged up against the Australian dollar to A81.26c at 9.30am from A81.10c at Friday's local close.
The trade weighted index was 54.52 at 9.30am from 54.33 at 5pm on Friday.
BNZ Capital currency strategist Danica Hampton said that after last week's dramatic fall, from above US59c to US53c, investors did not need much of an excuse to take profits.
The week might start slowly, due to the Martin Luther King holiday in the United States, but there was plenty to watch for later in the week, Ms Hampton said.
The world would be paying close attention to US President-elect Barack Obama's inauguration speech, there was a flood of corporate earnings due out of the US, and plenty of international data to provide an update on the state of the global economy.
In this country, December quarter inflation data is due out tomorrow, with November retail figures on Wednesday and December electronic card transactions on Thursday.
- NZPA
