The kiwi shied away from a fresh post-float high in overnight trading, but remained strong today.
At 5pm in Wellington today the kiwi was at buying US74.43c, from US73.93c at 5pm yesterday, having hit a new high of US74.67c during the offshore session.
BNZ currency strategist Sue Trinh said the kiwi consolidated within a tight range of US74.39c and US74.51c today.
"At the moment as we move into next week and ahead of the New Zealand GDP (gross domestic product) data the kiwi looks ripe for testing the US75c area sooner rather than later," Ms Trinh said.
On the domestic front the ANZ Business Performance of Manufacturing Index is due out tonight, but Ms Trinh said this data was not typically market moving.
The greenback fell across the board last night on news the US current account deficit had widened to record levels, coupled with surging oil prices. The fourth quarter current account deficit hit US$187.9 billion, taking the full year deficit to US$665.9 billion, or roughly 6.3 per cent of the entire economy. But capital flows data released on Tuesday showed a net inflow of US$91.5 billion into US assets in January, more than enough to offset the roughly US$55 billion needed each month to fund the current account gap.
At 5pm the euro was buying US$1.3403 ($1.3299 at 5pm yesterday), while the greenback was at 104.42 yen (104.47) and the aussie was at US79.33c from US78.90c at 5pm yesterday.
On the crosses the kiwi was at A93.77c (A93.69c), 0.5551 euro (0.5559), 38.67 British pence (38.65), 77.69 yen (77.24), and 0.8585 Swiss francs (0.8620).
The trade-weighted index was at 71.49 (71.28), and the monetary conditions index was at plus 1130 (1115).
On the money markets, 90-day bank bill yields were unchanged at 7.06 per cent, July 2009 bonds were at 6.33 per cent (6.32) and April 2015s were unchanged at 6.18 per cent.
- NZPA
<EM>Currency:</EM> Kiwi hovers just under historic high
AdvertisementAdvertise with NZME.