The New Zealand dollar softened today from its recent heady heights, but maintained its position above US48c.
At 5pm the kiwi was trading at US48.04c, trading in a tight range during the day and softer than yesterday's close (US48.35c).
"There's very little interest, we've seen a bit of consolidation. It doesn't seem to want to show too much inclination to go lower but within a ten-point range, there's not a lot to get excited about," a local dealer said.
The aussie remained in the doldrums at US54.69c after failing to crack the US55c mark this week (US54.95c at yesterday's close).
New Zealand's high interest rates are attributed with pushing the kiwi to three-month highs on Monday night, when it hit US48.47c.
It also hit a high of A88.20c that night, a level not seen since July, and profit takers were possibly the reason why the kiwi-aussie cross eased today to A87.82c (A88.00c).
Dealers suggested the ongoing concern about a potential war against Iraq was suppressing demand in most markets.
BNZ currency strategist Stu Ritson said in his morning commentary that the kiwi was at a volatile stage.
"There is little doubt that the speculative market is long NZD and a move back through 0.4780 could get interesting. For now, we respect the break higher and would look to buy towards 0.4810 targeting a move back towards 0.4850."
Overnight the kiwi was expected to trade between US47.90/48.20c.
On the other crosses at 5pm, the kiwi traded at 0.4903 euro (0.4916), 59.61 yen (60.08), 0.3090 pence (0.3082) and 0.7191 Swiss francs (0.7189).
The aussie was buying $1.1390 compared with $1.1364 at yesterday's close.
The New Zealand dollar trade-weighted index rose to 55.36 (55.62 yesterday, its highest level since July). The 90-day bill yield was at 5.88 per cent compared with 5.87 per cent yesterday and the monetary conditions index eased to minus 267 from minus 244.
In the bond market, the April 2004 bond yield was at 5.59 per cent (5.57 per cent), the November 2006 yield at 5.92 per cent (5.87 per cent) and the November 2011 bond at 6.18 per cent (6.12 per cent).
- NZPA
<i>Currency:</i> Kiwi muddles along, but holds some of its gains
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