KEY POINTS:
New Zealand dollar movements were restrained overnight ahead of the Reserve Bank's decision on official interest rates to be announced at 9am today.
By 7.30am the kiwi was buying US75.78c against the greenback, from an overnight high of US76.67c around 9pm.
Dealers say the NZ dollar is being underpinned by an increased interest rate differential with the US.
Yesterday the Federal Reserve slashed a key US interest rate by the biggest amount in more than 23 years in an emergency bid to head off a US recession and halt a global rout in stocks.
In a rare action between regularly scheduled meetings, the US central bank cut the benchmark federal funds rate by three-quarters of a percentage point to 3.5 per cent, its lowest level since September 2005.
Reserve Bank governor Alan Bollard is expected to today leave the New Zealand Official Cash Rate (OCR) unchanged at 8.25 per cent.
Ahead of that announcement the kiwi was little changed from its level at 5pm yesterday against the currencies of the Australian dollar and euro.
Against the Australian dollar it was buying A87.54c at 7.30am from A87.62c, along with 0.5205 euro from 0.5199.
The kiwi eased a little against the yen, buying 79.91 yen at 7.30am from 80.94. The trade weighted index was 70.20 from 70.36 at 5pm.
The yen rose across the board overnight as declining US and European stocks encouraged investors to reduce exposure to risky assets.
- NZPA
