Currency: Kiwi trades sideways

The New Zealand dollar traded a tight range during today's local session and despite the local interest rate call and trade data later this week, it will remain at the mercy of moves by its US counterpart, a local dealer said.

The kiwi closed at US68.36c today from US68.48c at 8.30am this morning and US68.43c at 5pm last night.

Its range for the day was US68.33c to US68.55c. Trade in the kiwi has remained muted in a market traders have described as "fatigued", following volatility last week in the wake of the yuan's revaluation.

ANZ Investment Bank dealer Mark Elliott said while a lot of people were talking about the Reserve Bank's Official Cash Rate review on Thursday and trade figures tomorrow, "I think the real direction will be determined by US dollar movement against other currencies. The euro still looks like it's got a move to US$1.16 on the cards".

At 5pm in Wellington the euro was buying US$1.2044 (US$1.2053 at 5pm yesterday) while the US dollar was trading at 111.87 yen (111.56), and the aussie was buying US76.03c (US76.34c).

Mr Elliott said while the kiwi had made a little ground in recent sessions, the trend was still towards the downside.

"Looking at the kiwi we'd say while the next half to three quarters of a cent might be on the top side, the next four to five cents will be on the down side, regardless of what data releases happen in New Zealand later in the week."

On its crosses this evening, the kiwi was buying A89.95c (A89.82c), 0.5678 euro (0.5679), 39.24 British pence (39.39), 0.8869 Swiss francs (0.8878) and 76.49 yen (76.34).

Elsewhere, the TWI was at 69.32 (69.35) and the monetary conditions index was on plus 975 (976).

On the money markets, 90-day bank bill yields were at 7.04 per cent (7.03), July 2009 bond yields were at 5.83 per cent (5.84), and April 2015s were at 5.79 per cent (5.84).

- NZPA