The New Zealand dollar held onto the ground it made up overnight supported by weakness in the United States currency.
About 5pm today the kiwi was buying US63.18c, slightly up from US63.08c at 8.30am, after having come within a whisker of US62c early yesterday afternoon.
It climbed to near US63.30 overnight and traded in a narrow band between that and US62.90c throughout today.
Against the Australian currency the kiwi was almost unchanged at A81.33c around 5pm, from A81.30c this morning. It weakened slightly against the yen from 69.80 to 69.60.
The TWI was also little changed from this morning at 62.22 from 62.25.
ASB said the value of the kiwi against the greenback appeared to lack short-term direction, caught between negative US dollar and NZ dollar sentiment.
But the NZ currency looked set to head lower against the Australian dollar in the short to medium term as New Zealand activity under-performed its trading partners, and interest rate differentials narrowed.
The market is now looking to New Zealand's first quarter retail sales due on Monday, with Reuters saying sales volumes are expected to rise 0.8 percent on the fourth quarter of 2005.
The US dollar fell to a one-year low against sterling and an eight-month low against the yen amid speculation the Federal Reserve will pause a two-year credit tightening campaign in June after lifting overnight rates to 5 percent this week.
The focus is now on US trade data for March with expectations the deficit will widen to $67 billion.
The following are Reuters currency rates:
5pm today 5pm Thursday
NZ dlr US63.18c US62.31c
NZ dlr/Aust dlr A81.33c A80.84c
NZ dlr/euro 0.4911 0.4893
NZ dlr/yen 69.60 69.29
NZ dlr/stg 33.52 33.58
NZ TWI 62.22 61.79
Australian dollar US77.68c US77.05c
Euro/US dollar US1.2863 US1.2731
US dollar/yen 110.15 111.23
- NZPA
<EM>Currency:</EM> Kiwi holds onto ground made up on greenback
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