Currency: Kiwi treads water above us68c in holiday trading

The New Zealand dollar was treading water above US68c in quiet, holiday-affected trading today, following Friday's late dive.

At 5pm, the kiwi was buying US68.17c from US67.86c at Friday's local close.

The New Zealand dollar slumped late on Friday afternoon after ratings agency Standard & Poor's said the risks on the country's AA+ credit rating had increased.

The kiwi dropped between 40 and 50 basis points immediately after the comments, falling to an overnight low of US67.55c.

Against the Australian dollar at 5pm today the kiwi was fetching A90.97c, from A90.47c at Friday's close.

Activity was thin, with Auckland investors out of action for the anniversary day holiday.

There was speculation in the market about another issue of uridashis -- New Zealand dollar denominated bonds sold to Japanese retail investors.

That suggested there was still some attraction to the high-yielding New Zealand dollar assets, despite a recent Reserve Bank warning over the risks involved and signs of an economic slow down.

RB Governor Alan Bollard last week left the official cash rate unchanged at 7.25 percent, the highest interest rate yield in the industrialised world.

5pm Monday 5pm Friday

NZ dlr/US dlr US68.17c US67.86c
NZ dlr/Aust dlr A90.97c A90.47c
NZ dlr/euro 0.5635 0.5568
NZ dlr/yen 80.02 79.06
NZ dlr/stg 38.60 38.17
NZ TWI 69.75 69.20
Australian dollar US74.91 US75.16
Euro/US dollar US1.2092 US1.2211
US dollar/yen 117.40 116.23

- NZPA