Trading in the New Zealand dollar was quiet yesterday despite an upgrade of New Zealand's credit rating by international agency Fitch Ratings to AA+ from AA.
At 5pm the New Zealand dollar was buying US58.94c from US58.73c at 5pm on Friday, while the aussie dollar was at US66.09c (US65.72c).
ANZ Investment Bank chief foreign exchange dealer Murray Hindley said the kiwi had traded in a US58.90c to US59.18c range yesterday.
"After that announcement there was a small move higher but it pretty much petered out," he said.
The kiwi had "dribbled off its highs" during the afternoon, and closed testing "the lows of the intra-day range," he said.
Other than the news of the rating change, it had been a reasonably quiet day Mr Hindley said.
For the rest of the week, with little data scheduled for release other than migration figures on Thursday, the kiwi would continue to look toward the US dollar for direction, he said.
Mr Hindley expected to see the kiwi trade in a range tonight of between US58.80c and US59.50c, "if it breaks that key US59.20c level".
Meanwhile, against the pound, the kiwi hit a fresh five-year high yesterday at 36.97 after the sterling came under market pressure towards the end of last week. But by 5pm it had eased slightly to 36.94 pence (36.74 at 5pm on Friday).
Against the aussie at 5pm the kiwi was A89.20c (A89.51c). The euro was at US$1.1230 (US$1.1250), while the US dollar was buying 119.37 yen (118.98).
On the crosses at 5pm, the kiwi was buying 70.35 yen (69.99), 0.8113 Swiss francs (0.8073), and 0.5249 euro (0.5229).
The monetary conditions index was at plus 323 (313), the trade-weighted index was at 63.23 (63.09) and 90-day bank bill yields were at 5.14 per cent (5.12).
The February 2005 yields were at 5.28 per cent (5.26), the November 2006s were at 5.51 per cent (5.50), and the November 2011s were at 5.92 per cent (5.90).
- NZPA
<I>Currency:</I> Kiwi little affected by rating change
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