The kiwi dollar held steady in uneventful trade today after slipping lower overnight.
At 5pm it closed at US68.50c compared with US68.75c at 5pm yesterday.
The fall overnight followed a rise to US68.89c yesterday on better than expected trade figures and after the US Federal Reserve hiked interest rates.
Strong yield demand has also continued to underpin the kiwi, with about $150 million in new eurokiwi and uridashi (bonds denominated in New Zealand dollars) issued overnight.
The US dollar hit a seven-week high against the yen, building on suggestions that the Fed may not yet be finished raising interest rates.
Dealers said the dollar would likely remain well supported ahead of Friday's non-farms payrolls report expected to show strong US jobs growth in January and reinforce a case for more dollar-boosting rate rises.
"We've seen a big wave of dollar buybacks since the Fed," said Mitsuo Imaizumi, a senior forex trader at Daiwa Securities SMBC.
The dollar closed here at 118.24 yen after rising to a seven-week peak of 118.28 yen. The euro was at US$1.2070, slightly up from its late New York level on Wednesday, when the single currency fell around 0.8 per cent. The euro has dropped around 2 per cent from a four-month high of US$1.2325 hit last week.
The Australian dollar closed at US75.28c from US75.11c yesterday and the kiwi cross rate climbed to A91.00c from A90.90c yesterday.
The following are Reuters currency rates:
(5pm Thursday - 5pm Wednesday)
NZ dlr/US dlr US68.50c - US68.25c
NZ dlr/Aust dlr A91.00c - A90.90c
NZ dlr/euro 0.5675 - 0.5642
NZ dlr/yen 80.96 - 80.30
NZ dlr/stg 38.60 - 38.58
NZ TWI 70.12 - 69.83
Australian dollar: US75.28 - US75.11
Euro/US dollar: US1.2070 - US1.2201
US dollar/yen: 118.24 - 117.56
- NZPA
<EM>Currency:</EM> Kiwi dollar holds steady
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