The New Zealand dollar rested on its laurels today, closing little changed after making a move higher last night.
By 5pm the kiwi was at US58.60c, up from US58.41c at 5pm yesterday but not far from its 9am level of US58.67c.
The aussie roared higher to US65.92c (US65.56c at 5pm yesterday).
One local dealer said the kiwi traded between US58.55/86c today, and could edge higher overnight towards US59c.
"It's been a relatively quiet day, just consolidation after last night's moves higher.
"Really, we're in a negative US dollar scenario. The aussie in particular looked pretty healthy on the day and looks likely to make fresh gains overnight, and we'll probably be dragged higher on that.
"We should have a look at the US59c mark and see if we're going to break up through there," he said.
In Tokyo, the US dollar stayed under pressure on remarks from billionaire financier George Soros that he was betting on a further decline in the US currency and after the US government raised its terror alert status to "high" from "elevated".
Mr Soros, who had brought the sterling to its knees in the early 1990s making $US1 billion in the process and was once dubbed "the man who broke the Bank of England", said he was buying the euro and the Australian, Canadian and New Zealand dollars against the greenback.
In Wellington at 5pm the euro rose to $US1.1716 from $US1.1664 last night, while the US dollar eased to 116.66 yen (117.08 yen).
On the crosses at 5pm the kiwi was buying A88.90c (A89.07c last night), 68.36 yen (68.37 yen), 35.72 pence (35.78), 0.7563 Swiss francs (0.7573), and 0.5004 euro (0.5010).
The monetary conditions index was at plus 238 (239), the trade-weighted index was at 61.93 (61.91) and 90-day bank bill yields were at 5.32 per cent (5.34).
The February 2005 yields were at 4.92 per cent (4.98), the November 2006s were at 5.08 per cent (5.13), and the November 2011s were at 5.41 per cent (5.46).
- NZPA
<i>Currency:</i> Dollar rests on laurels following gains overnight
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