KEY POINTS:
The New Zealand dollar's climb stalled today at US75.50c while it lost ground on the Australian dollar.
Overnight the kiwi rose to US75.61c against the greenback, from US75.08c at 5pm yesterday, having climbed from a four-week low early yesterday below US73.70c.
Bank of New Zealand currency strategist Danica Hampton said risk appetite had recovered.
That happened in the absence of fresh negative credit news, progress in diplomatic relations between Turkey and the US over northern Iraq, and resilience across global stock markets.
Demand from speculative players and real-money Japanese accounts pushed the kiwi against the yen from below 86 to 87 before it eased back to 86.54.
Against the Australian dollar, the kiwi fell to A83.71c from A84.42c at 5pm yesterday after figures showed underlying inflation in Australia rose by more than expected last quarter, sharply raising the risk of a rise in interest rates as early as November.
The timing of such a move would be politically sensitive as Australia holds a national election in November 24.
The trade weighted index closed unchanged from yesterday on 70.23.
The US dollar struggled to gain ground against the euro and yen as traders fretted that forthcoming US data could point to further weakness in the slumping housing sector.
Market attention is focused on the US existing home sales report amid fears the data may point to a further deterioration in the housing market and increase the chances of more Federal Reserve interest rate cuts this year.
Economists' median forecast is for US existing home sales to have declined to a 5.25 million annual rate in September from a 5.5 million rate the previous month. The data is due at 1400 GMT.
Reuters currency rates
5pm today 5pm Tuesday
NZ dlr/US dlr US75.49c US75.08c
NZ dlr/Aust dlr A83.71c A84.42c
NZ dlr/euro 0.5293 0.5290
NZ dlr/yen 86.54 86.11
NZ dlr/stg 36.81p 36.88p
NZ TWI 70.23 70.23
Australian dollar US90.20c US88.98c
Euro/US dollar 1.4260 1.4196
US dollar/yen 114.69 114.63
- NZPA