The New Zealand dollar's New Year rally ran out of steam yesterday, after the unit yesterday topped the US43c mark for the first time since September 11.
By 5pm the kiwi had eased to US42.60c from US42.98c at Monday's close, while its Australian counterpart was at US51.84c (US51.88c).
"It has been a relatively quiet day with a gradual drift off over the course of it really," one local currency dealer said.
"With the local corporate market slowing drifting back in over the last couple of days we have seen people taking advantage of these high levels.
"The buyers that we have seen over the last couple of days haven't been present."
Dealers expected the local unit to range between US42.40c and US42.70c overnight.
On the crosses at 5pm the kiwi was at A82.18c (A82.67c at Monday's close), 56.38 yen (56.08), 29.63 pence (29.68), 0.9346 marks (0.9344), 0.7037 Swiss francs (0.7064) and 47.80 euro (47.78). The Australian dollar was buying $NZ1.2169 from $NZ1.2104.
The trade-weighted index was at 51.49 (51.60), 90-day bank bills were at 4.89 per cent (4.88) and the monetary conditions index was at minus 728 (minus 719).
On the debt market the March 2002 bonds were steady at 4.76 per cent, the April 2004s were at 5.68 per cent (5.76), the November 2006s were at 6.22 per cent (6.34), and the November 2011s were at 6.63 per cent (6.77).
- NZPA
<i>Currency:</i> Kiwi drifts lower
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