The New Zealand remained in the doldrums yesterday, unchanged despite a disastrous night on global sharemarkets.
At 5pm the kiwi was range trading at US46.89c, not far from Monday's close at US46.92c, while the aussie eased to US54.17c (US54.38c).
BNZ currency strategist Stu Ritson said the kiwi had traded in a tight US46.88/47c range yesterday and he expected it to trade in a similar fashion overnight, with resistance at US47.20c but any risks to the downside.
"It's like watching paint dry, it's been at that level for about six weeks and nothing has really changed."
Mr Ritson said a massive fall in equities on Monday night and continued pressure on US growth indicators should have resulted in a particularly bad night for the kiwi dollar, but it did not.
"So I guess what that suggests to me is that investors have got bigger fish to fry and peripheral currencies like the kiwi and the aussie are really on the sidelines for the time being."
In the US, selling of the greenback took off after a key gauge of Midwest US manufacturing fell much more than expected in September.
The report deepened the pessimism surrounding a struggling US economic recovery and helped push the Dow Jones down 1.42 per cent, launching a rally in the US Treasury bond market.
Back home, encouraging New Zealand economic data out yesterday also failed to impact on the kiwi. A new monthly survey - the ANZ-Business New Zealand PMI survey - showed encouraging growth prospects in the manufacturing sector.
In addition, the New Zealand Institute of Economic Research forecast that consumer spending would propel New Zealand's growth rate to 3.4 per cent during the year to March.
The quarterly survey revised its GDP figure up from 3.1 per cent in June, fuelled by a stronger than expected June quarter growth figure, high inflows of migrants and stronger wage growth.
On the crosses at 5pm, the kiwi gained on the aussie but slipped against most other trading partners. It traded at A86.57c (A86.29c at Monday's close), 57.27 yen (56.82), 29.84 pence (29.96), 0.6911 Swiss francs (0.6980), and 0.4747 euro (0.4769).
The aussie was buying $NZ1.1558 ($NZ1.1598).
On the money market, 90-day bills were unchanged at 5.89 per cent, the trade-weighted index was at 53.83 (53.79), and the monetary conditions index was at minus 407 (minus 410).
The April 2004 bonds yields were flat at 5.61 per cent, the November 2006 bonds were at 5.88 per cent (5.82), and the November 2011 bonds were at 6.05 per cent (6.04).
- NZPA
<i>Currency:</i> Kiwi dollar sits on sidelines as greenback takes battering
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