The New Zealand dollar closed slightly higher in a second-straight dull session as key players square their currency portfolios, a broker said.
At 5pm, the kiwi was at US71.00c (from US71.12c at 5pm yesterday), having opened today's session at US70.90c
It ranged between US70.83c and US31.03c.
Westpac currency strategist Johnathan Bayley said the kiwi traded in a narrow band because "flow has been very low".
As a result, "liquidity, if you were silly enough to venture out there (the market), was pretty poor", he said.
"We've had quiet days, which seems to suggest that the local trade buyers have done what they need to do in terms of taking on extra cover," Mr Bayley told NZPA today.
"This week and next week are going to be driven by positioning and so the dollar is more likely to gain than lose," he said.
Meanwhile, the Australian dollar was buying US75.60c (US76.04c), the euro was at US$1.3293 (US$1.3298), and the US dollar was at 105.30 yen (104.92).
On the crosses the kiwi was buying A93.89c (A93.50c), 0.5341 euro (0.5348), 36.88 British pence (37.03), 74.77 yen (74.63) and 0.8199 Swiss francs (0.8216).
The trade-weighted index was at 69.08 (69.07) and the monetary conditions index was at plus 931 (926).
On the money markets, 90-day bank bill yields were static at 6.75 per cent, February 2006 bonds at 6.32 per cent (6.31), July 2009s were at 6.00 per cent (6.01), and April 2013s were at 5.95 per cent (5.97).
- NZPA
<EM>Currency:</EM> NZ dollar closes slightly higher as punters square positions
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