KEY POINTS:
The New Zealand dollar was oddly little moved by news of the Reserve Bank's unprecedented 1.5 percentage point cut in the official cash rate to 5 per cent.
Dealers said it was a case of no surprise and therefore no reaction.
Wall Street had a volatile day and rallied at the close, which helped the New Zealand dollar test the topside of its recent range, said Imre Speizer, senior market strategist at Westpac.
At 5pm the kiwi was at US53.25c compared to US53.15c yesterday.
Around the time Reserve Bank Governor Alan Bollard cut the official cash rate the currency moved a few points but nothing to write home about.
"The over-riding sentiment is still negative. We couldn't break out of the key resistance at US53.50c," said Mr Speizer.
"We've had three goes at that in the last week," he said.
But the currency is holding on the downside meaning it is currently locked in a range.
Dr Bollard's comments about the shallowness of the recession were noted but the picture is of an economy dribbling along.
All-in-all there was nothing to get too excited about in a currency market that is still keeping an eye on volatile global equity markets.
Against the Australian dollar, the New Zealand dollar was A82.20c at 5pm, unchanged from yesterday. It was 49.60 yen from 49.65 yesterday and against the euro it moved from 0.4175 yesterday to 0.4190 today.
The trade weighted index was 54.07 at 5pm from 53.90 at 8am just before the rate cut decision.
Currency rates:
NZ dlr/US dlr US53.25c US53.15c
NZ dlr/Aust dlr
A82.20c A82.20c
NZ dlr/euro 0.4190 0.4175
NZ dlr/yen 49.60 49.65
NZ dlr/stg 36.03p 35.65p
NZ TWI 54.07 53.15
Aust dlr/US dlr US64.75 US64.63c
Euro/US dlr 1.2712 1.2723
US dlr/yen 93.18 93.34
- NZPA
