The New Zealand dollar showed more strength against the greenback by the end of today's local session but continues to slide against the aussie.
By 5pm the kiwi was at US59.95c, from US59.84c late yesterday, while the aussie was at US69.32c (US69.05c).
The kiwi traded between US59.80c and US60.03c today and BNZ currency strategist Sue Trinh said it was likely to trade in a US59.75c to US60.10c range tonight.
"It's definitely firm and that's in line with the strength in the aussie and in the euro", she said. US dollar weakness continued to be the principle driver.
The kiwi was currently "camped just below that major resistance in that US60c to US60.25c region which it's been struggling to take out convincingly", Ms Trinh said.
Meanwhile the kiwi-aussie cross was "under the weather a little bit". By 5pm today the kiwi was buying A86.49c down from A86.67c at the same time yesterday.
Ms Trinh attributed this to market expectations the Reserve Bank of Australia would tighten interest rates before its kiwi counterpart. The kiwi may fall as low as A84.75c she said.
In Wellington by 5pm the euro was at US$1.1835 from US$1.1789 late yesterday, while the US dollar eased further to 109.16 yen (109.62).
On the crosses, the kiwi was buying 65.44 yen (65.60), 0.5064 euro (0.5077), 36.03 pence (35.92), and 0.7841 Swiss francs (0.7862).
The Australian dollar was buying $1.1564 ($1.1536).
The monetary conditions index was at plus 216 (217), the trade-weighted index was at 61.81 (61.84), and 90-day bank bill yields were at 5.20 per cent (5.19).
The February 2005 government bond yields were at 5.38 per cent (5.35), the November 2006s were at 5.67 per cent (5.64), and the November 2011s were unchanged at 5.98.
- NZPA
<i>Currency:</i> Kiwi firms against Greenback, softens against Aussie
AdvertisementAdvertise with NZME.