The kiwi dollar rose slightly against a weaker greenback, which sunk to a fresh low against the euro overnight.
At 1.30pm today the kiwi was at US71.84c, slightly up from the US71.80c open and from US71.44c at 5pm yesterday.
The US dollar dipped to an all-time low against the euro on Thursday for the sixth consecutive session, as traders took aim at technical targets in a thin market.
Many foreign exchange desks had skeleton crews, but traders who were around pushed the US currency broadly lower, positioning themselves for further declines next year on the back of a weaker-than-expected index of business activity in the US Midwest.
"People want to go into the weekend and the new year positioned for a weaker buck, which is the way that it has been pretty much since the election," said Tim Mazanec, director of foreign exchange with Investors Bank and Trust in Boston.
Overnight the Chicago purchasing managers index was released. The index fell to 61.2 in December from 65.2 in November, below economists' forecasts of a 63.0 reading.
The greenback had been trading slightly higher against some currencies before the data were released.
But the decline in the headline number -- and a weak employment component, which showed contraction in the labour market -- was enough to push the US dollar back down across the board.
At 1.30pm today the euro was trading at $US1.3623 (from $US1.3619 at 5pm yesterday).
Against the yen, the US dollar was trading at 102.87 yen (103.84) and the Australian dollar was trading at US77.95c (US77.52c).
On the crosses at 1.30pm today the kiwi was at A92.15c (A92.14c), 0.5275 euro (0.5246) 37.35 British pence (37.17), 73.91 yen (74.19) and 0.8143 Swiss francs (0.8095).
The trade-weighted index was at 68.82 (68.60) while the monetary conditions index was at plus 911 (892).
There was no movement in the money markets. The 90-day bank bill yields were at 6.76 percent (6.74), February 2006 bonds were at 6.35 percent (6.37), July 2009s were at 6.02 percent (6.05) and April 2013s were at 5.98 percent (6.01).
- NZPA
<EM>Currency</EM>: Kiwi firms slightly against weaker greenback
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