KEY POINTS:
The New Zealand dollar settled in a range today, ahead of quarterly retail sales data tomorrow.
By 5.50pm, the kiwi was at US66.10c, down from US66.58c late yesterday. It was buying A86.46c, against yesterday's A86.84c.
ANZ Investment Bank chief foreign exchange dealer Murray Hindley said the kiwi had been rangebound during the session.
"It was a little bit softer in the morning session, but since then we're pretty much back where we started," Mr Hindley said.
The market was awaiting quarterly retail sales data tomorrow,
"It seems like kiwi's weighing a little bit, it seems to have resistance around US66.20c and support at US65.80c."
A 2 per cent rise in input prices boosted the September quarter Producers Price Index, beating a forecast 0.7 per cent rise. Higher prices for lambs, cattle and calves were a main driver in a 0.7 per cent rise for output prices, which fell short of the 0.9 per cent rise expected.
ANZ economists said that while the data highlighted an ongoing inflationary undercurrent, there was little risk of a Reserve Bank rate rise in December.
Also out today, the Capital Goods Price Index rose 1.3 per cent for the quarter, its 14th consecutive rise.
The yen rallied after data showing Japan's economy 2 per cent in the third quarter, keeping the Bank of Japan on track to raise interest rates in the next few months, surprised the market which had entertained the possibility of contraction.
The US dollar slid about half a per cent to a low of 117.54 yen before clawing back to around 117.65 yen.
The euro was mired near session lows around 150.70 yen, down 0.4 per cent and pulling away from the all-time high of 151.48 yen struck last week.
Reuters currency rates:
5.50pm today 5.30pm Monday
NZ dlr/US dlr US66.10c US66.58c
NZ dlr/Aust dlr A86.46c A86.84c
NZ dlr/euro 0.5154 0.5174
NZ dlr/yen 77.78 78.06
NZ dlr/stg 34.71p 34.79p
NZ TWI 66.04 66.36
Australian dollar US76.46c US76.66c
Euro/US dollar 1.2828 1.2871
US dollar/yen 117.64 117.24
- NZPA