A brief flurry of activity in the New Zealand dollar saw it breach the key US71.50c mark today, but those gains were short-lived, a dealer said.
At 5pm, the kiwi was at US71.36c, from US71.34c at the same time yesterday.
It ranged between US71.35c and US71.65c today, having started the session at US71.40c.
BNZ currency strategist Sue Trinh said the kiwi had turned in a largely quiet performance today.
"Shortly after lunchtime there was a massive short squeeze on the kiwi," Ms Trinh told NZPA.
"What that means is some Asian players who have sold kiwi suddenly had the desire to try and cover that position and end up buying," she said.
"They bought it (the kiwi) at a high price and that fuelled even more buying and price was pushed higher."
But, as the buying enthusiasm ebbed, the kiwi retreated from the US71.50c mark through the session, despite a mildly weaker United States dollar, Ms Trinh said.
Looking ahead, US gross domestic product figures out this week could provide some directional cue for the kiwi, she said.
At 5pm, the greenback was buying 107.99 yen (107.30), the euro was buying $US1.2565 ($US1.2598) and the Australian dollar was at US76.18c (US76.10c).
On the crosses, the kiwi was buying A93.67c (A93.75c), 0.5679 euro (0.5663), 77.05 yen (76.54), 39.02 British pence (38.97), and 0.8776 Swiss francs (0.8757).
The kiwi-pence cross was its highest since October 1997.
The trade-weighted index was at 70.88 (70.76), while the monetary conditions index was at plus 1088 (1080).
On the money markets, 90-day bank bill yields were unchanged at 7.07 percent, July 2009s were at 5.90 percent (5.87), and April 2015s were at 5.78 percent (5.77).
- NZPA
<EM>Currency:</EM> NZ dollar quiet but for brief flurry of activity
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