The New Zealand dollar continued to gain against the greenback today but eased against the aussie on the back of better than expected Australian employment data.
BNZ currency strategist Sue Trinh said there were now clear signs of "interest rate support" dominating the kiwi's price action after the Reserve Bank of Australia yesterday opted not to lift Australia's key interest rate from 5.5 percent.
"It's reaffirmed that the RBNZ (Reserve Bank of New Zealand) is the only major central bank outside of the Federal Reserve that seems to be acting on its tightening bias at the moment," Ms Trinh said.
At 5pm today the kiwi was up at US71.32c, from US71.06c at 5pm yesterday, having ranged between US71.02c and US71.40c during the day.
Meanwhile the kiwi slipped slightly from this morning's A93.18c against the Australian dollar, and at 5pm was A92.95c, from A92.74c at 5pm yesterday.
The aussie firmed against the greenback, buying US76.75c this evening from US76.63c at 5pm yesterday.
Australian Bureau of Statistics Labour Force figures for March, released today, showed the number of people in the workforce rose by 3.4 percent over the year to 9.95 million, with the number of people in work rising 57,800 for the month.
Meanwhile at 5pm today the greenback was at 108.49 yen (108.00 at 5pm yesterday) while the euro was at $US1.2029 ($US1.2878).
On its other crosses the kiwi was fetching 77.39 yen (76.75), 0.5529 euro (0.5519), 37.86 British pence (37.76), and 0.8579 Swiss francs (0.8550).
The trade-weighted index was at 70.20 (69.95), while the monetary conditions index was at plus 1043 (1026).
On the money markets, 90-day bank bill yields were at 7.10 percent (7.11), July 2009 bonds were at 6.22 percent (6.19) and April 2015s were at 6.09 percent (6.07).
- NZPA
<EM>Currency:</EM> Kiwi gains on greenback, eases against Aussie
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