KEY POINTS:
The New Zealand dollar ended the day slightly lower following a volatile session, while the US dollar continued its recovery on receding fear of a US recession.
Just after 5pm, the kiwi was at US75.27c, a US cent below its late afternoon level on Wednesday and compared with its local open around US75.70c.
"It got drilled down to a low of US75.07c, and has subsequently been up to around US75.50c," said ANZ Investment Bank senior dealer Mark Elliott.
"It's volatile, with a downward bias," he said, noting there was little specific news to guide direction.
There was a chance the kiwi could fall over the next day or so, by up to half a US cent, he said.
The kiwi was also lower against the Aussie although it gave up less ground, trading at A85.33c from A85.79c yesterday.
Investors were hedging their bets on the US dollar ahead of key employment data on Friday, after non-farm payrolls data released in September showed the first decline in four years and prompted a US Fed interest rate cut.
"The market has been selling US dollars aggressively in recent weeks and the market's just taking a bit of a square up ahead of that (data)," Mr Elliott said.
"If the market's excessively positioned one way and the number turns out to be a surprise, then there's disappointment all round."
The US dollar held above an all-time low against the euro after data on Wednesday showed growth in the US labour market, boding well for Friday's report.
Reuters currency rates
5.10pm today 5pm yesterday
NZ dlr/US dlr US75.27c US76.27c
NZ dlr/Aust dlr A85.33c A85.79c
NZ dlr/euro 0.5343 0.5380
NZ dlr/yen 88.87 88.25
NZ dlr/stg 37.07p 37.33p
NZ TWI 71.00 71.60
Australian dollar US88.22c US88.92c
Euro/US dollar 1.4088 1.4176
US dollar/yen 116.59 115.84
- NZPA