The New Zealand dollar eased against most major currencies yesterday as markets looked elsewhere for direction.
"Locally there's been nothing of note," said one dealer.
At 5pm the kiwi was at US42.13c, virtually identical to its close Tuesday at US42.14c, and its Australian stablemate was little better at US51.81c (US51.74c).
"The aussie's been very quiet and the kiwi's following suit. The range on the day has been a low of about (US42).10c and a high of around (US42).17, so it has been very rangebound," said DF Mainland dealer Tim Robinson.
Factors weighing on the aussie had included gold prices, which had fallen since Australia announced it would reduce its gold reserves slowly.
"Obviously that's a story for a lot further down the track," he said.
Bank of NZ currency strategist Stu Ritson suggested that the kiwi was so rangebound it was practically "flat-lining", in contrast to the euro and yen which have proved quite volatile.
Tuesday night's dollar-yen rate strengthened as Japan was punished for its lack of economic reform, closing yesterday in New Zealand at US133.45. A yoyo-ing euro lost some of Tuesday's ground to close at US87.67c.
On the crosses at 9am the kiwi was buying A81.30c (A81.46c at Tuesday's close), 56.22 yen (56.28), 29.45 pence (29.51), 0.7111 Swiss francs (0.7167), and 0.4806 euro (0.4841). The aussie was buying $NZ1.2302 (1.2277).
The trade weighted index was at 51.21 (51.33), the monetary conditions index at minus 748 (minus 736), and 90-day bank bills were steady at 4.95 per cent.
On the debt market, the March 2002 bonds were steady at 4.73 per cent, the April 2004 bonds were at 5.62 per cent (5.69), the November 2006s were at 6.33 per cent (6.36) and November 2011s at 6.60 per cent (6.62).
- NZPA
<i>Currency:</i> Dollar eases against major currencies
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