The kiwi briefly stretched over the US70c mark in morning trading today, before drifting lower throughout the rest of the local session.
By 5pm in Wellington, the kiwi was buying US69.63c up from US69.55c at yesterday's close.
A Wellington dealer said the kiwi was "washing around" in a tight range today after peaking early. In morning trading the kiwi poked its nose above US70c, hitting a session high of US70.10c, but slowly drifted down to the session low at the end of the day.
At 5pm the Australian dollar was buying US76.01c (US76.02c).
Meanwhile the yen rose today after the European Central Bank's chief economist expressed concern about the euro's strength and said Asian currencies should bear more of the burden of the greenback's broad weakness. Some dealers read that as a sign Europe may help the United States put additional pressure on China to allow its currency to appreciate.
At 5pm the US dollar had slipped to 103.47 against Japan's yen from 104.02 at yesterday's local close, while the euro was at $US1.3113 ($US1.3128).
The market remains focused on US trade figures due out tonight New Zealand time, which should be a key test for US dollar sentiment.
On the crosses at 5pm the kiwi was buying A91.58c (A91.50c), 0.5310 euro (0.5297), 37.10 British pence (36.98), 72.03 yen (72.36), and 0.8233 Swiss francs (0.8185).
The New Zealand dollar trade-weighted index opened at 67.82 (67.78), while the monetary conditions index was at plus 835 (833).
On the money markets, 90-day bank bill yields were at 6.74 percent (6.76), November 2006 bond yields were at 6.15 percent (6.18), July 2009s were at 5.99 percent (6.04), and April 2015s were at 5.94 percent (6.00).
- NZPA
<EM>Currency:</EM> Kiwi drifts after strong start
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