The kiwi stuck to a tight range today as it consolidated recent gains.
BNZ currency strategist Sue Trinh said the kiwi was range bound in a reasonably dull market today, after it briefly stuck its head above US72c in the New York session on Friday.
"For the moment the task at hand for the kiwi is to keep a foothold above that US71c area, or more importantly to get a foothold above that US71.75c area, which is the 1996 cyclical high," she said.
She said in the short term the kiwi has a number of obstacles to navigate, the most major one being US non-farm payroll data due out Friday night.
At 5pm today, the kiwi was at US71.63c (from US71.75c at 5pm on Friday), having ranged between US71.41c and US71.69c during the local session.
The Australian dollar was at US78.55c (US79.20c).
Meanwhile, the euro was at US$1.3252 (US$1.3270), and the greenback was buying 102.93 yen (102.59).
Meanwhile, the kiwi rose against the aussie after the Australian current account deficit for the third quarter widened more than expected. The deficit was a record A$13.69 billion ($15.25 billion), seasonally adjusted, from A$11.76 billion in the second quarter. The deficit equalled 6.5 per cent of GDP.
At 5pm the kiwi was at A91.21c (A90.60c), 0.5406 euro (0.5407), 37.90 British pence (37.91), 73.70 yen (73.62), and 0.8190 Swiss francs (0.8170).
The trade-weighted index was at 69.08 (69.02), and the monetary conditions index was at plus 923 (921).
On the money market, 90-day bank bill yields were at 6.70 per cent (6.71 per cent).
February 2006 bond yields were at 6.20 per cent (6.21), July 2009s were at 5.96 per cent (5.98), and April 2013s were at 5.95 per cent (5.98 per cent).
- NZPA
<EM>Currency:</EM> Kiwi sticks to tight range
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