The New Zealand dollar pushed to yet another six-year high in trading today before consolidating just below the US63c mark.
At 5pm, the New Zealand dollar was fetching US62.92c (from US63.07c at 5pm on Friday), while the Australian dollar was at US71.55c (US72.14c).
Westpac chief currency dealer Basil Payn said the kiwi had been as high as US63.35c in today's session, topping the overnight and previous six-year high of US63.24c.
"The euro strengthened up today, the kiwi strengthened, the only thing that hasn't made too much ground is the Australian dollar," he said.
By market's close the euro had advanced to US$1.1805 (US$1.1788), while the United States dollar was buying 109.22 yen (108.00).
"There seems to be some hangover selling of US dollars from Friday in New York and the kiwi market has been reasonably illiquid so there haven't been that many sellers," Mr Payn said.
The New Zealand dollar's fortunes, like other commodity currencies, were based on US dollar weakness, he said.
"Basically, the market at the moment is loathe to buy US dollars against anything," Mr Payn said.
On the crosses, the kiwi was buying A87.95c (A87.43c), 68.74 yen (68.14), 37.25 pence (37.32), 0.5334 euro (0.5353), and 0.8338 Swiss francs (0.8491).
The Australian dollar was at $1.1364 ($1.1440).
The trade weighted index was at 64.52 (64.47), while the monetary conditions index was at plus-454 (448), and 90-day bank bills were at 5.44 per cent (5.42).
On the debt market, April 2004 bonds were unchanged at 5.31 per cent, February 2006s were at 5.75 per cent (5.80), and November 2011s were at 6.14 per cent (6.20).
- NZPA
<i>Currency:</i> Kiwi pushes to new highs, but finishes below US63c
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