5.41pm
The kiwi moved up slightly today on thin volumes, but was overshadowed by interest in the Australian dollar.
At 5pm the kiwi was buying US66.67c from US66.62c at 5pm last night, having traded in a range of US66.40c to US66.85c during the day.
A Wellington dealer said the kiwi opened at its low for the day, before slowly moving up. He said trading volumes were low, with not much interest in the kiwi.
"I think the kiwi's going to be reasonably sidelined this week. It's been at the forefront of everyone's mind over the last couple of weeks with the rate hikes etc, but I think it will just be following the leaders this week," the dealer said.
Some direction was likely to be provided by the Australian dollar, which was looking strong thanks to rising metal prices, he said.
At 5pm today the Australian dollar was buying US71.40c (US71.18c at 5pm yesterday).
The market has absorbed the wider than expected merchandise trade deficit for August reported yesterday, of $725 million, or 30.7 per cent of exports. BNZ currency strategist Sue Trinh said the wider than expected deficit raised concerns New Zealand's current account deficit could balloon above 6 per cent of GDP by early next year.
Consumer confidence data out of both the US and New Zealand is due for release late tonight, while Australian trade figures are due out tomorrow.
At 5pm today the greenback was buying 111.34 yen (110.64) and the euro was at US$1.2289 (US$1.2282).
The New Zealand dollar trade-weighted index (TWI) was at 67.71 (67.64), while the monetary conditions index was at plus 823 (818).
On the crosses, the kiwi was fetching A93.37c (A93.59c) , 36.84 British pence (36.89), 74.24 yen (73.71), 0.8413 Swiss francs (0.8396), and was unchanged against the euro at 0.5425 euro.
In the money market, 90-day bank bill yields were at 6.70 per cent (6.71 per cent).
On the bond market, February 2006s were at 6.27 per cent (6.36), July 2009s were at 6.16 per cent (6.22) and April 2013s were at 6.15 per cent (6.20).
- NZPA
<i>Currency:</i> Buyers eye Aussie dollar
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