The New Zealand dollar traded heavily yesterday but was fighting to withstand pressure from an easing aussie dollar.
"The aussie's been sold hard and the kiwi's holding because we've got good interest in the market to support it around the US41.70c level," said one dealer.
At 5pm the kiwi was at US41.83c, barely changed from yesterday's US41.85c close. Its Australian stablemate sold off from around US51.72 at 9am yesterday to US51.43c at the close (US51.57c).
The dealer said the kiwi was still finding it hard to rise above US42c despite plenty of activity.
"There's a lot of interest around the market, a lot of heavy price action, but it's not actually moving around a lot. "
The aussie had fallen after failing four times to push through the US52c barrier, prompting dealers to sell their long positions, he said.
Expectations for the kiwi this weekend were around US41.75-95c and to continue performing well against the aussie.
On the crosses at 5pm the kiwi was buying A81.45c (A81.18c), while the aussie was buying NZ1.2358 (1.2322).
The kiwi was trading at 56.13 yen (55.95), 29.31 pence (29.30), 0.7106 Swiss francs (0.7113), and 0.4819 euro (0.4808).
The trade weighted index was steady at 51.02, the monetary conditions index remained at minus 764, and 90-day bank bills were unmoved at 4.98 per cent.
On the debt market, the March 2002 bonds were steady at 4.74 per cent, the April 2004 bonds were at 5.62 per cent (5.68), the November 2006s were at 6.32 per cent (6.36), and November 2011s were at 6.57 per cent (6.64).
- NZPA
<i>Currency:</i> Kiwi holds firm as Aussie eases
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