KEY POINTS:
The New Zealand dollar remained subdued today, weakening against the Australian dollar, which received a boost from its central bank.
By 5pm, the kiwi was little changed at US77.22c from US77.21c late yesterday afternoon. The currency had climbed to a fortnight high near US77.75c around midnight.
Today's range was US77.15c-US77.50c, with the kiwi hitting its highs after news the Reserve Bank of Australia board had considered another rate hike two weeks ago before leaving rates steady.
"We went up on the back of the Aussie - the Aussie went up quicker and that's seen the cross move as well in favour of the Aussie dollar against the kiwi," one dealer said.
"We've drifted back off as the Aussie's drifted off."
Against the Aussie, the kiwi had eased to A80.57c from A80.99 at 5pm yesterday. The Aussie rose to US95.85c from US95.33c, as the risks for further rate rises remained.
The market was awaiting the Government's annual budget on Thursday, with one highlight for money markets likely to be the level of government borrowing in its debt programme, the dealer said.
Most elements of the budget had already been announced.
The kiwi retreated from a near two-week high against the yen of 80.90 to 80.45 by 5pm, little changed from late yesterday.
The kiwi was at 0.4979 euro from 0.4961 euro yesterday, and 39.55 pence from 39.47p.
The United States dollar eased, failing to sustain an overnight recovery as worries persisted about the outlook for the US economy and as caution prevailed ahead of German sentiment and prices data.
A lack of follow-through buying showed the dollar's recovery had been largely technical after a sell-off late last week on concerns about US growth, traders said.
Currency rates:
NZ dlr/US dlr US77.22c US77.21c
NZ dlr/Aust dlr A80.57c A80.99c
NZ dlr/euro 0.4979 0.4961
NZ dlr/yen 80.45 80.50
NZ dlr/stg 39.55p 39.47p
NZ TWI 68.87 68.85
Australian dollar US95.85c US95.33c
Euro/US dollar 1.5517 1.5564
US dollar/yen 104.17 104.24
- NZPA
