The kiwi firmed slightly against the greenback as it consolidated following a recent string of falls.
At 5pm today the kiwi was at US71.16c (from US70.86c at 5pm yesterday), having ranged between US70.93c and US71.23c during the day.
A Wellington dealer said it was an uneventful session. "Really it's been an unremarkable day, especially if you look at it in light of the trading over the last week or so which was quite dramatic , when we came from US74.5c to US70.5c," he said.
He said there could be a further push towards the upside over the next 24 hours, with the kiwi possibly extending its corrective recovery back to US71.50c to US7190c area.
The US dollar has climbed as much as 4.6 per cent against the euro and nearly 4 per cent versus the yen since mid-March as traders unwound bets against the currency on expectations for more aggressive rate rises by the Federal Reserve.
But some analysts said that the market was keen to use Tuesday's data showing a slight drop in US consumer confidence in March to take profits on the dollar's gains, which slowed some of the recent selling in the euro.
Traders were braced for US non-farm payrolls data, which is due on Friday and expected to show that 220,000 new jobs were created in March, compared with 262,000 in February. The market was also awaiting the Bank of Japan's tankan survey of business sentiment, also due on Friday.
At 5pm today the aussie was at US77.25c (US77.06c), the euro was at US$1.2947 (US$1.2936), and the greenback was at 107.23 yen (107.15).
On its other major cross rates at 5pm the kiwi was fetching A92.12c (A91.95c), 0.5497 euro (0.5478), 37.88 British pence (37.91), 76.33 yen (75.94), and 0.8534 Swiss francs (0.8499).
Meanwhile, the trade-weighted index was at 69.77 (69.53), while the monetary conditions index was at plus 1010 (992). On the money markets, 90-day bank bill yields were unchanged at 7.08 per cent, July 2009 bonds were at 6.35 per cent (6.36), and April 2015s were at 6.22 per cent (6.24).
- NZPA
<EM>Currency:</EM> Kiwi firms against greenback
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