The New Zealand dollar closed little changed today as the market awaited key employment data from the United States tonight.
By 5pm the kiwi was buying US57.04c, having closed yesterday at US56.90c, while the aussie was at US64.28c (US64.03c).
Bancorp Treasury Services director Derek Rankin said the kiwi traded in a very narrow range of US56.87c and US57.04c.
"With the US employment data out tonight, I don't think the market's of a mood to get too carried away.
"We're losing ground against the Australian dollar but to be honest it's pretty marginal ... it's been a pretty quiet end to the week," Mr Rankin said.
"Most of the major central bank meetings have happened, and the English did nothing, the Europeans did nothing, the New Zealanders and Australians did nothing, so all was pretty much as planned."
The kiwi was likely to trade between US56.50c and US57.50c during the weekend, and spend most of its time hugging the US57c level.
It managed to shrug off the release of an ugly New Zealand July trade deficit first reported at $471 million, which was revised today down to $456 million today after export figures were confirmed.
In Tokyo the US dollar was flat against the yen as most players shied away from testing Japan's determination to stem the yen's rise, a day after Tokyo was seen aggressively intervening in the market.
News of the US unemployment rate tonight -- expected to stay put at 6.2 per cent in August -- is important because it will signal the strength of the US economic recovery.
By 5pm in Wellington the euro was at US$1.0960 from US$1.0837 yesterday, while the US dollar was at 116.80 (116.79).
On the crosses the kiwi was buying A88.72c (A88.88c), 66.62 yen (66.46 yen), 35.97 pence (36.25), 0.5207 euro (0.5253), and 0.8010 Swiss francs (0.8059).
The Australian dollar was at $1.1267 ($1.1252).
The monetary conditions index was at plus 195 (203), the trade-weighted index at 61.60 (61.70) and 90-day bank bill yields were little changed at 5.15 per cent (5.14 per cent).
In the bond market, the February 2005 yields were at 5.42 per cent (5.44), the November 2006s were at 5.68 per cent (5.70), and the November 2011s were at 6.03 per cent (6.07).
- NZPA
<i>Currency:</i> Kiwi little changed
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