The New Zealand dollar has resisted the pulling power of a retreating aussie this week and continues to hover around US41c.
At 5pm the kiwi traded at US41.04c from US41.16c at yesterday's close, while the aussie fell to US50.43c from US50.54c yesterday.
Earl White of Bancorp Treasury Services Ltd said the kiwi had held up fairly well against the aussie sell-off.
"Today when the aussie finally cracked that US50.50c level, and fell down to US50.20c, the kiwi really couldn't sustain those levels around US41.20c and we saw some selling, but once again that US41c level has attracted a little bit of interest.
"The market really doesn't want to push the kiwi-aussie cross much above A81.50c at the moment. We're starting to see reasonable amounts of interest from aussie importers and hedgers selling that kiwi-aussie cross anywhere near A82c, so that's brought the relationship back into line a little bit," Mr White said.
The aussie is being sold off because of longer term concerns about the Australian and world economies, including falling world commodity prices, while the kiwi is under the influence of domestic factors.
"People are getting increasingly concerned about the elusiveness of the United States recovery - the more we see out of the US that is negative and the more the implication is the States will ease once more, people are saying this is not too good for Australia because the Reserve Bank of Australia is going to find it difficult to ease even if the Fed does.
"The Australian dollar is suffering more than we are because they're much more exposed to those hard commodities like metals and wheat," he said.
The kiwi will nevertheless see a major fall if the aussie starts to pick up downwards momentum.
The kiwi's range today was US41/25c, and Mr White picked it to trade to just under US41c and up to US41.30c overnight.
On the crosses at 5pm, the kiwi traded at A81.44c (unchanged from yesterday's close), 51.21 yen (51.33), 28.73 pence (28.92), 0.9168 marks (0.9200), 0.7078 Swiss francs (0.7094) and 0.4688 euros (0.4702). The Australian dollar traded at $NZ1.2278, from yesterday's close of $NZ1.2279.
The trade-weighted index was at 49.53 (49.66) while the 90-day bills were at 5.81 percent (5.78). The monetary conditions index eased to minus 829 (minus 819).
Among the bonds, the March 2002s were at 5.68 percent (5.65), the April 2004s were at 6.34 percent (6.35), the November 2006s were steady at 6.53 percent, and the November 2011s were unchanged at 6.68 percent.
- NZPA
<i>Currency:</i> Kiwi continues to resist Aussie's downward slide
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