The New Zealand currency did little for most of today after earlier gains that pushed it up towards US70c.
Around 5pm, the kiwi was at US69.91c, compared with US69.87c at 8.30am and US69.43c at Friday's close.
It was mixed against other major currencies, rising slightly during the day against the euro and the pound, and dropping a little against the aussie and the yen.
The strengthening over the weekend against the greenback came as the US currency edged towards a three-month low against the euro, hobbled by comments from European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet that traders took to mean the possibility of higher euro zone interest rates had grown.
The US dollar has also been slipping since the start of 2006 as moderate economic data fuelled speculation the Federal Reserve may soon end its current tightening cycle.
Traders said the US dollar's direction should be clearer later in the week when key data are due, including the consumer price index (CPI) and housing starts for December, and the monthly capital flows report.
In this country the focus will be on Wellington think tank the New Zealand Institute of Economic Research's quarterly survey of business confidence tomorrow, the CPI on Wednesday, and November retail sales figures on Friday.
The NZ CPI was forecast to rise 0.8 percent on the previous quarter, with the annual inflation rate seen easing to 3.2 percent, according to a Reuters poll.
That would still be above the Reserve Bank's 1-to-3 percent target band.
BNZ currency strategist Sue Trinh said the New Zealand dollar remained well supported ahead of this week's key data, which could expose it.
Tomorrow's business opinion survey would be closely watched for any sign of diminishing capacity constraints, she said.
A break through the US70c area would expose a run toward US70.80c, but the bank could not see that being sustained.
5pm today 5pm Friday
NZ dlr/US dlr US69.91 US69.43
NZ dlr/Aust dlr A92.45 A92.54
NZ dlr/euro 0.5755 0.5769
NZ dlr/yen 79.79 79.60
NZ dlr/stg 39.35 39.46
NZ TWI 70.97 70.86
Australian dollar US75.62 US75.09
Euro/US dollar US1.2153 US1.2041
US dollar/yen 114.15 114.54
- NZPA
<EM>Currency:</EM> NZ dollar does little after pushing up to near US70c
AdvertisementAdvertise with NZME.