5.30pm
The kiwi gained ground against the greenback today, as the market reacted to a new Osama bin Laden video and waited for the United States election to get under way.
At 5pm today the kiwi was buying US68.57c, from US68.15c at 5pm on Friday having traded in a US68.43c to US68.80c range during the local session.
Westpac currency dealer Basil Payn said there was a sell-off in the US dollar this morning, following the release of a new video tape of Osama bin Laden over the weekend. But Mr Payn said the gains had petered-out by lunchtime.
"It looks a little bit lacklustre. I suspect we won't do too much ahead of the (US) presidential election results come Wednesday," he said.
Last week the kiwi fell from a multi-month high of US70.50c, after the Reserve Bank indicated its widely expected 6.5 per cent rate hike last Thursday would likely be the last in the current tightening cycle.
Meanwhile at 5pm today, the Australian dollar was at US74.75c (US74.52c at 5pm on Friday). The euro was at US$1.2775 (US$1.2740), and the greenback was buying 106.14 yen (106.15).
On the crosses at 5pm the kiwi was at A91.73c (A91.50c), 0.5366 euro (0.5414), 37.35 British pence (37.23), 72.79 yen (72.34), and 0.8211 Swiss francs (0.8190).
The NZ dollar trade-weighted index was at 67.55 against 67.48 on Friday night and the monetary conditions index was at plus 831 (807).
On the money market, 90-day bank bill yields were at 6.73 per cent (6.72). February 2006 bond yields were unchanged at 6.17 per cent , July 2009s were at 5.99 per cent (6.02), and April 2013s were at 6.02 per cent (6.03).
- NZPA
<i>Currency:</i> Kiwi gains on Greenback as market waits on US election
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