The New Zealand dollar slipped a peg or two today, dragged lower by the closely-linked Australian dollar.
"The kiwi started stronger today but was pulled down, rather reluctantly, by the aussie throughout the day," one local currency dealer said.
At 5pm the local unit was at US43.25c, barely changed from US43.24c at Friday's close, but down on its US43.49c opening level.
The Australian dollar was at US51.63c (US51.91c at Friday's close).
With little in the way of local data out today, the Australasian units continued to underperform compared with the other dollar bloc currencies.
The euro in particular was bolstered by the aftermath of a surprise jump in United States unemployment in August. The US jobless report, released late Friday NZT, showed more than 113,000 workers lost their jobs last month, against forecasts of 33,000.
In response, the single European currency ended the local session over a cent higher at US90.72c (US89.55c at Friday's close).
The greenback also slipped against the yen, buying 119.94 yen by 5pm against 121.12 yen on Friday.
Trade figures released today showing a slight improvement in New Zealand's trade deficit for July to $42 million from an early estimate of a $46 million deficit, failed to register on the kiwi trading radar.
Overnight, dealers expected the kiwi to trade between US43.10c and US43.60c.
On the crosses at 5pm the kiwi was buying A83.77c (A83.30c at Friday's close), 0.4768 euros (0.4830), 51.87 yen (52.37), 29.57 pence (29.69), 0.9324 marks (0.9444) and 0.7235 Swiss francs (0.7302).
The Australian dollar was buying around $NZ1.1938 from $NZ1.2006 on Friday.
The trade-weighted index was at 51.06 (51.27), 90-day bill yields were at 5.83 percent (5.85) and the monetary conditions index eased to minus 676 (minus 653).
Among the bonds the March 2002s were at 5.67 percent (5.74), the April 2004s were at 6.08 percent (6.28), the November 2006s were at 6.34 percent (6.51), and the November 2011s were at 6.51 percent (6.64).
- NZPA
<i>Currency:</i> Kiwi closes lower on Aussie weakness
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