6.00PM
The New Zealand dollar continued to trade sideways during today's local session as the dust settled from its recent move lower.
At 5pm in Wellington the kiwi was buying US65.03c, close to the middle of its range for the day of US64.83c to US65.15c, but down slightly on last night's close of US65.19c.
Westpac chief currency dealer Basil Payn said it had been a fairly quiet local session, "just really consolidation on its move lower".
The New Zealand dollar has lost more than 2c against the greenback since the start of the week. The kiwi was sold down by offshore investors and the US unit rose on softening oil prices.
However Mr Payn said the kiwi was now finding solid support from overseas buyers taking advantage of New Zealand's relatively high interest rates.
"We still have seen reasonably good buying interest below US65c out of Asia on a yield basis."
He expected continuing offshore demand to at least maintain the kiwi at current levels and to possibly provide impetus for a slow drift upward over coming days.
Meanwhile, at 5pm the Australian dollar was buying US70.47c (US70.70c at 5pm yesterday) and the euro was at US$1.2068 (US$1.2083). The greenback was fetching 110.05 yen (109.52).
On the crosses, the kiwi was buying A92.28c (A92.20), 0.5390 euro (0.5400), 36.24 British pence (36.34), 71.58 yen (71.39), and 0.8296 Swiss francs (0.8305).
The trade weighted index was at 66.32 (66.43), and the monetary conditions index was at plus 701 (704).
On the money and debt markets, 90-day bank bill yields were at 6.49 per cent (6.47), February 2006 bonds were at 6.19 per cent (6.20), July 2009s were at 6.20 per cent (6.23), and April 2013s were at 6.21 per cent (6.24).
- NZPA
<i>Currency:</i> Kiwi continues to trade around US65c mark
AdvertisementAdvertise with NZME.