The New Zealand dollar gained some ground against the greenback today on the back of the Australian dollar, which has halted its slide for the moment.
At 5pm the kiwi rose to US41.41c from yesterday's close of US41.04c, while the aussie was at US51.08c from US50.39c.
One local dealer said the aussie received some updraft from decent retail spending figures out today.
Allowing for seasonal factors, retail trade edged up 1.1 percent to a record $A13.5 billion ($NZ16.8 billion), the Australian Bureau of Statistics said. The rise was the sixth in the past seven months.
"Also I think the market's been caught a bit short ... I don't think there's anything suspicious but I just think the market got it wrong," the dealer said.
The RBA is said to have bought up the Australian unit at US50.20c and US50.40c as it teetered on the brink of the crucial downside level of US50c.
"The aussie and euro both up, each for their own reasons, are dragging up the kiwi," he said.
The euro rose to US88.06c at 5pm from yesterday's close of US87.53c.
The kiwi's range during the day was US41.18/40c, and it was likely to look a bit stronger still overnight.
Offshore, the US dollar lost some ground as the market lacked convincing reasons to buy after the key Chicago manufacturing indicator tumbled on Tuesday.
On the crosses at 5pm the kiwi traded at A81.07c (A81.44c at yesterday's close), 51.68 yen (51.21), 28.99 pence (28.73), 0.9196 marks (0.9168), 0.7118 Swiss francs (0.7078) and 0.4701 euros (0.4688). The Australian dollar traded at $NZ1.2335 from yesterday's close of $NZ1.2287.
The trade-weighted index was at 49.78 (49.53) while the 90-day bills were at 5.80 percent (5.81). The monetary conditions index tightened to minus 805 (minus 829).
Among the bonds, the March 2002s were at 5.67 percent (5.68) percent, the April 2004s were at 6.28 percent (6.34), the November 2006s were at 6.48 percent (6.53), and the November 2011s were at 6.63 percent (6.68).
- NZPA
<i>Currency:</i> Kiwi clambers up on back of rising Aussie
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