6.00pm
After an early wheelspin the New Zealand dollar gained traction against the greenback this afternoon to finish today's local session higher with a positive outlook.
At 5pm in Wellington, the kiwi was buying US66.43c from US66.62c at 5pm yesterday, having traded in a US66.31c to US66.53c range.
The aussie was at US71.56c (US71.84c at 5pm yesterday).
Westpac currency strategist Johnathan Bayley said the kiwi had eased slightly after opening locally at around US66.40c.
" It chopped around a bit, got down as low as US66.31c before pushing higher.
"It's been a little bit more buoyant this afternoon."
Mr Bayley said today's session was generally quiet with some flow coming as importers took advantage of the local unit's recent gains against the greenback and other currencies especially the aussie.
At 5pm the kiwi was buying A92.84c from A92.73c at the same time yesterday.
Mr Bayley said the kiwi had gained against the greenback as US recent US economic data showed "a weak June turning into weak July" for the world's biggest economy, which had combined with higher oil prices to entrench bearish US dollar sentiment.
Mr Bayley said the next level of technical resistance for the kiwi was US67.40c, and this could be tested before the weekend.
Meanwhile at 5pm in Wellington, the euro was at US$1.2348 (US$1.2360) and the greenback was fetching 110.02 yen (110.51 yen).
On the crosses, the kiwi was buying 0.5379 euro (0.5390), 36.32 British pence (36.20), 73.08 yen (73.57) and 0.8265 Swiss francs (0.8249).
The monetary conditions index was at plus 759 (771) and the trade weighted index was at 67.17 (67.32).
On the money and debt markets, 90-day bank bill yields were at 6.48 per cent (6.49), February 2006 bonds were at 6.15 per cent (6.19), July 2009s were at 6.16 per cent (6.21), and April 2013s were at 6.20 per cent (6.26).
- NZPA
<i>Currency:</i> Kiwi ends local session higher
AdvertisementAdvertise with NZME.