KEY POINTS:
The New Zealand dollar had a quiet day as it continued to settle after last week's budget announcement and international holidays accounted for subdued trading.
Westpac market strategist Michael Gordon said the Government budget announced last week was "surprisingly stimulatory" and had left the market in a neutral stance.
"The budget has taken the pressure off the Reserve Bank to provide any early insurance rate cuts, but the crucial question is how much easing they will signal over the next year."
Public holidays in Britain and the US also meant a quiet day of trading.
At 8am today the kiwi was US78.51c against the US dollar after hitting a 2-1/2-week high just shy of US79c early on Saturday.
By 5pm today it was back up to US78.64.
"The market is probably reflecting on the news we had last week after the budget and the question of whether markets just over-reacted to the budget stimulus and the tax cuts which Dr Cullen announced last week," BNZ chief currency dealer Mike Symonds said.
He expected the kiwi to remain within Friday's parameters overnight and said it had found good support around the US78c mark since the budget announcement.
The kiwi rose slightly against the euro, Australian dollar and Yen.
Just before 5pm tonight the kiwi was up to A81.85c after opening at A81.82c at 8am today.
Against the euro the NZ dollar rose from 0.4980 to 0.4991 and against the Yen it was up to 81.28 from 81.07 at 8am.
The trade weighted index was 69.64 at 5pm from 69.53 at 8am.
The US dollar was kept low over the weekend by surging oil prices which are expected to further slow the US economy and add to inflation pressures.
- NZPA