The New Zealand dollar took a holiday itself today ahead of the Thanksgiving holiday in the United States.
The kiwi closed at US41.04, just 2 points higher than its opening and well down on its US41.30c close yesterday.
The aussie also snoozed throughout the day, closing at US51.65c compared with US51.84c yesterday.
Local dealers said this morning that the New Zealand dollar had been spared from languishing below the US41c mark by corporate interest. Yesterday Edison Mission announced it was extending the deadline for its takeover offer for Contact Energy, but refused to up its bid.
Today the same move was taken by Groupe Danone for Frucor.
But offshore factors played the bigger part in today's trading patterns. There was little liquidity in the US market ahead of its public holiday, and the greenback was shored up by robust economic data."
We've basically got 48 hours of lethargic trading ahead of us," said Citibank dealer Dean Sheridan.
Dealers predicted the kiwi would come under pressure overnight, with a range of US41.10c to 40.85c. On Wednesday night it slumped to US40.96c, a seven-week low."
Technically, people are saying that if US41c the figure breaks then (kiwi) may well get down as low as US40c. There are people that are exiting their positions on the break of US41c," one dealer said.
On the kiwi-aussie cross, the kiwi made up no ground during the day, closing at A79.46c (A79.72c at yesterday's close), while the aussie was buying $NZ1.2586 ($NZ1.2545).
On the other crosses at 5pm, the kiwi was trading at 0.4676 euros (0.4679 at yesterday's close), 50.54 yen (50.73), 28.95 pence (29.08), 0.9145 marks (0.9149), and 0.6795 Swiss francs (0.6817).
The trade-weighted index was at 49.18 (49.32), the 90-day bank bills were at 4.88 per cent (4.87), and the monetary conditions index was at minus 958 (minus 945).
On the debt market, the March 2002 bonds were at 4.77 per cent (4.78), the April 2004s were at 5.51 per cent (5.43), the November 2006s were at 6.09 per cent (6.00), and the November 2011s were at 6.61 per cent (6.51).
- NZPA
<i>Currency:</i> Kiwi, aussie snooze ahead of Thanksgiving
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