The New Zealand dollar held steady in lacklustre trade today, closing just a few pips below yesterday's closing level.
At 5pm, the kiwi was sitting at US41.17c, little changed from its US41.27c close yesterday, having traded a US41.15-41.30c range throughout the day.
"There was absolutely nothing going on," one local currency dealer said.
All eyes are focused on US gross domestic product data due out later tonight, he said. According to economists polled by Reuters, the data is expected to show the US economy grew by 0.9 percent in the year ended June 2001, or just over 0.2 percent quarter-on-quarter.
The GDP data comes at a crucial point for the US currency, as rumours of backtracking on the US strong dollar policy and concerns over the timing of an economic recovery abound.
Despite those rumours the kiwi's key trading partners the euro and the Australian dollar both closed slightly lower today.
The Australian unit ended at US50.88c (US50.98c), while the euro was at US87.95c (US88.07c).
The euro was pulled off its highs after an unexpected acceleration in euro zone money supply growth dampened hopes for a near-term European Central Bank interest rate cut.
Dealers expected the kiwi to trade in a range of US40.80c to US41.30c overnight.
On the crosses the kiwi ended at A80.92c (A80.95c at yesterday's close), 50.96 yen (50.96), 28.81 pence (28.88), 0.9155 marks (0.9164), 0.7072 Swiss francs (0.7074) and 0.4680 euros (0.4685).
The trade-weighted index eased to 49.46 (49.52) while the 90-day bills were at 5.81 percent (5.82). The monetary conditions index was little changed at minus 837 (minus 830).
Among the bonds, the March 2002s were at 5.68 percent (5.70), the April 2004s were at 6.39 percent (6.42), the November 2006s were at 6.59 percent (6.64), and the November 2011s were at 6.74 percent (6.78).
- NZPA
<i>Currency:</i> Kiwi closes lower in lacklustre trade
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