The kiwi was in consolidation mode today, following a choppy offshore session on Friday.
At 5pm the kiwi was at US74.00c from US73.78c at 5pm on Friday, almost half a cent below last week's post float high of US74.49c gained after the Reserve Bank hiked its key interest rate to 6.75 per cent.
The kiwi traded between US73.95c and US74.21c today, in what a Wellington dealer described as a fairly lacklustre day. He said the market was consolidating after a sharp sell-off in the greenback during Friday's offshore session. The drop in the US dollar was triggered after the US posted its second largest monthly trade gap on record.
The greenback fell across the board after the data , and the kiwi moved up from the mid US73c range to breach US74c.
"It's usual when there's a large spiky move in the offshore market, the following session is usually a consolidation session which is what we have seen today," the dealer said.
He said there was little reaction to the release of domestic data which showed seasonably adjusted retail sales rose 1.3 per cent in January, compared to a 0.3 per cent fall in December last year..
Other domestic data due out this week includes job ads tomorrow morning and the release of ANZ-Business NZ Performance of Manufacturing Index on Friday.
At 5pm today, the greenback was at 104.44 yen (104.15 at 5pm on Friday), while the euro was buying $1.3450 ($1.3426), and the aussie was trading at US79.23c (US78.97c).
On the crosses, the kiwi was at A93.40c (A93.45c), 0.5502 euro (0.5496), 38.48 British pence (38.35), 77.28 yen (76.79), and 0.8520 Swiss francs (0.8507).
The trade-weighted index was at 71.06 (70.91), and the monetary conditions index was at plus 1100 (1087).
On the money markets, 90-day bank bill yields were at 7.06 per cent (7.04), July 2009 bonds were unchanged at 6.34 per cent, and April 2015s were at 6.21 per cent (6.20).
- NZPA
<EM>Currency:</EM> Kiwi consolidates in lacklustre trade
AdvertisementAdvertise with NZME.