The New Zealand dollar bobbed around within a tight 20-point range today, mirroring moves across the Tasman.
By 5pm, the kiwi was at US55.07c, down slightly from last night's close of US55.09c. The aussie dollar also retreated slightly to US59.06c (US59.11c), unable to take advantage of a credit rating upgrade on its currency earlier this week.
With a lack of local data all eyes were offshore today, with the United States dollar gaining against the euro but losing ground against the yen.
The Japanese currency rose on continued concerns about intervention, given the greenback's nearly 2 per cent fall against the yen in just two days. Tokyo traders remained wary that Japanese authorities could step into the market to stem any sharp rise in the yen.
By 5pm in Wellington the euro eased to $US1.0713 from last night's $1.0746, while the greenback weakened to 119.06 yen (119.35 yen).
ANZ Investment Bank senior dealer Mark Elliott said the kiwi traded today between US54.90c and US55.10c.
If the New Zealand dollar sinks below the key level of US54.80c in the next few days it was likely to fall swiftly below US54.50c.
On the crosses at 5pm, the kiwi was buying A93.24c (A93.20c at yesterday's close), 0.5140 euro (0.5126), 65.57 yen (65.76), 34.57 pence (34.39) and 0.7562 Swiss francs (0.7533).
The aussie was buying $NZ1.0725 ($NZ1.0730)
The trade-weighted index was at 60.84 (60.82), 90-day bills were at 5.83 per cent (5.83), and the monetary conditions index eased to plus 201 (plus 199).
On the bond market, April 2004 government bonds were flat at 5.47 per cent, the November 2006s were at 5.47 per cent (5.46), the November 2011s were at 5.89 per cent (5.91) per cent, and the April 2013s were flat at 5.94 per cent.
- NZPA
<i>Currency:</i> Kiwi continues to bob around US55c
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