The New Zealand dollar ended the last week before Christmas on a high, closing near its highs for the week.
It was buying US51.72c at 5pm today, up from its US51.51c close on Thursday.
The aussie eased up slightly to US56.60c from its close on Thursday of US56.58c, while the kiwi was up at A91.37c on the cross compared with A$91.05con Thursday.
One local dealer said the kiwi traded in a range today of US51.62/85c, and was likely to remain within that overnight.
"Just further consolidation to close the week on its highs.
"We saw the highs (US51.96c) during the middle of the week and we haven't really backed off at all ... For the time being, kiwi's still very popular with the offshore market," he said.
"It's going to be very well supported on dips, but the market's unwilling to take it to US52c until we get further into the holiday period.
"While the kiwi looks good, we still look very good on that (aussie) cross. It is at historically high levels, but the reasons for us being strong against the aussie are still relevant."
Those reasons included the drought in Australia; higher New Zealand interest rates which provided a better yield for investors; and surprisingly New Zealand was receiving slightly more benefit from the commodity cycle than fellow commodity economy Australia.
During the week, the kiwi withstood three attempts to push it below US51.25c.
Dealers said that despite today's news of economic growth of 1.0 per cent in the September quarter, and yesterday's strong report on the Government books, there were other more pressing factors for the forex market to focus on -- the prospect of war in Iraq.
On the other crosses, the kiwi was buying 0.5042 euro (0.5017), 62.46 yen (62.39), 32.27 pence (32.15), and 0.7370 Swiss francs (0.7337).
The Australian dollar was at $1.0943 ($1.0983).
The trade weighted index, a basket of currencies for key New Zealand trading partners, rose to 58.25 from 58.04 yesterday, 90-day bank bills were at 5.93 per cent (5.92), and the monetary conditions index tightened to minus 7 from minus 24 yesterday.
On the debt market, the April 2004s were at 5.70 per cent (5.69), the November 2006s at 5.88 per cent (5.87), the November 2011s at 6.14 per cent (6.19), and the April 2013s at 6.17 per cent (6.22).
- NZPA
<i>Currency:</i> Kiwi ends week near top of range
AdvertisementAdvertise with NZME.