The New Zealand dollar traded in a narrow range today ahead of key employment data from the United States tonight.
By 5pm the kiwi was buying US59.97c, not far from US59.95c at market's close yesterday, while the aussie eased to US68.48c (US68.57c).
Yesterday, the kiwi hit an intraday high of US60.19c but failed to push beyond resistance at US60.23c.
ANZ Investment Bank chief foreign exchange dealer Murray Hindley said the kiwi traded today between US59.83/98c.
"The focus is on the US non-farm payrolls tonight, and depending on what they are going to be they will obviously dictate the trend for the kiwi. The forecast is for weak numbers anyway, minus 15,000 jobs," Mr Hindley said.
"It looks like initial support (for kiwi) at US59.70c, and resistance still around the US60.20c area."
In Tokyo the greenback edged down against the yen amid doubts about a US economic recovery and the absence of intervention by the Japanese authorities to sell their currency.
The dollar was within 1 per cent of three-year lows against the yen and three-month lows against the euro, with traders cautious ahead of the closely watched US employment report for September.
In Wellington by 5pm the euro fell to US$1.1697 (US$1.1755), and the US dollar eased to 110.78 yen (110.90).
On the crosses, the kiwi was at A87.55c (A87.43c), 66.43 yen (66.49), 35.89 pence (35.88), 0.7909 Swiss francs (0.7867), and 0.5127 euro (0.5099).
The Australian dollar was at $1.1422 ($1.1437).
The monetary conditions index was at plus 252 (244), the trade-weighted index was at 62.29 (62.19), and 90-day bank bill yields were unchanged at 5.17 per cent.
The February 2005 government bond yields were at 5.23 per cent (5.19), the November 2006s were at 5.41 per cent (5.37), and the November 2011s were at 5.72 per cent (5.67).
- NZPA
<i>Currency:</i> Kiwi consolidates ahead of US employment data
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