The New Zealand dollar finished the week on a limp note, moving out of its comfort zone briefly before falling back to opening levels.
By 5pm the kiwi traded at US46.59c, just below Thursday's close of US46.65c, and the Australian dollar was at US54.07c, compared with US54.28c Thursday.
BNZ senior foreign exchange manager Stu Ashton said the kiwi traded between US46.40/75c today after selling off overnight alongside the aussie and euro, as the US dollar gained more than 1 per cent.
But he noted that the kiwi was doing better than the aussie with the kiwi-aussie cross up at A86.19c from A85.95c on Thursday night.
"It's been reasonably active ... (An active Wellington buyer) continued to buy kiwi up to the high of US46.75 which ran out of steam just below the US46.80/85c trendline.
"We've seen kiwi perform very well against the aussie. The aussie continues to look weak."
He picked the kiwi to trade lower as far as US46.20c and capped at US46.70c.
Stu Ritson, BNZ currency strategist, said that a period of range trading seemed likely before further upside moves began.
"While technicals are still positive and interest rate differentials supportive of the New Zealand dollar, external economic factors are still worrying, although at least the global asset prices have stabilised."
At 5pm the kiwi had strengthened against other major currencies, buying 55.95 yen (55.49), 30.68 pence (30.54), 0.7094 Swiss francs (0.7007), and 0.4814 euro (0.4770).
The aussie was trading at $NZ1.1604 ($NZ1.1635).
On the money market, 90-day bills were fat 5.91 per cent (5.90), the trade-weighted index was at 53.68 (53.46) and the monetary conditions index tightened to minus 418 (minus 440).
On the debt market, the April 2004 bonds were at 5.76 per cent (5.73), the November 2006 bonds were at 6.16 per cent (6.11), and the November 2011 bonds were at 6.42 per cent (6.36).
- NZPA
<i>Currency:</i> Kiwi outperforms Aussie but still a limp session
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