KEY POINTS:
The New Zealand dollar traded in a narrow range today, ignored by major swings in the euro and yen.
Lack of news left the kiwi adrift but it climbed slightly during the day to close at US79.15c, near Friday's close of US79.10c.
ANZ bank today said renewed interest in carry trades, helped by improved earnings from US companies, had kept the NZ dollar stable.
It ground upwards against the euro and yen but lost steam against the Australian dollar, which improved on inflation data.
The kiwi-aussie cross closed at A84.29c from A84.44c on Friday, at 0.4999 euro (0.4974) and 82.17 yen (80.99 yen).
The trade-weighted index hovered at 70.26 (70.10).
This week the market will be looking to the Reserve Bank's official cash rate review on Thursday for direction, although most economists expect rates to remain static.
The US dollar firmed toward a seven-week high against the yen, closing locally at 103.82 (102.40) and lifted from near record lows against the euro to 1.5830 (1.5895).
Traders said it was the resulted of a solid result from the largest US bank, Citigroup.
"There's a prevailing sentiment that we're getting past the worst and it's a sentiment that is growing and driving some improvement in the (US) dollar," said Nick Bennenbroek, head of FX strategy at Wells Fargo in New York.
Reuters currency rates:
NZ dlr/US dlr US79.15c US79.10
NZ dlr/Aust dlr A84.29c A84.44c
NZ dlr/euro 0.4999 0.4974
NZ dlr/yen 82.17 80.99
NZ dlr/stg 39.57p 39.74p
NZ TWI 70.26 70.10
Australian dollar US93.90c US93.68c
Euro/US dollar 1.5830 1.5895
US dollar/yen 103.82 102.40
- NZPA
