The New Zealand dollar retreated today from last night's fresh five-year highs but was likely to make new ground overnight.
By 5pm, the kiwi was at US59.28c, up from US58.84c at 5pm yesterday but well off its overnight high of US59.63c.
The aussie was at US67.80c (US67.35c), retaining its overnight strength despite the Reserve Bank of Australia's surprise decision today to keep interest rates unchanged at 4.75 per cent. The market had expected a 25-point cut.
Bank of New Zealand currency strategist Sue Trinh said the kiwi was likely to be capped by US59.70c tonight.
"The move overnight was a mixture of things pushing the kiwi higher - firstly it was technical factors, which saw the kiwi go through resistance we've been citing at US58.80/90c.
"Then you saw US dollar weakness, with the weaker ISM (Institute for Supply Management) manufacturing data coming out undermining US strength across the board.
"... It was a pretty sharp move (for the kiwi) and such gains are generally unsustainable, so a bit of consolidation," Ms Trinh said.
She picked a range tonight of US59.00/70c.
The greenback remained under pressure in Tokyo today on the US manufacturing data, although trade was thin ahead of closely watched US jobs data and a long weekend in the US to mark Independence Day.
In Wellington at 5pm, the euro rose to $US1.1550 from $US1.1527 yesterday, while the greenback eased to 119.32 yen (119.65).
On the crosses at 5pm, the kiwi was buying A87.44c (A87.52c at 5pm yesterday), 70.74 yen (70.53), 35.63 pence (35.57), 0.7988 Swiss francs (0.7975), and 0.5133 euro (0.5113).
The monetary conditions index was at plus 292 (277), the trade-weighted index was at 62.74 (62.52) and 90-day bank bill yields were at 5.19 per cent (5.23).
The February 2005 yields were unchanged at 4.87 per cent, the November 2006s were at 4.97 per cent (4.94), and the November 2011s were at 5.31 per cent (5.26).
- NZPA
<i>Currency:</i> Kiwi consolidates last night's gains
AdvertisementAdvertise with NZME.