The New Zealand dollar was range-bound today as it once again followed the fortunes of its United States' counterpart, a broker said.
At 5pm, the kiwi was buying US59.51c, slightly down from US59.57c at market's close yesterday.
The Australian dollar was at US68.85c (from US68.54 at 5pm yesterday.)
BNZ currency strategist Sue Trinh said the kiwi's movements today were "rangey and choppy" and that the general bias was downwards.
"The moves to the topside are getting capped or meeting with stubborn resistance so it seems the path of least resistance is downwards," she told NZPA today.
Today, the kiwi traded between US59.34c and US59.60c, while support was at US59.20c.
"If that (support) goes you might see a push down to US58.50c."
There was "huge" resistance at the US60.00/25c mark.
Data coming out of the US had been firmer, but the US reporting season was behind "a lot of optimistic expectations", Ms Trinh said.
"Ultimately it's a US dollar story at the moment," she said.
US retail sales rose for a fifth month in September and manufacturing in New York surged to a record in October.
A Federal Reserve survey of the 12 regional Federal districts showed the economic recovery had strengthened.
Meanwhile, the euro was at US$1.1650 (US$1.1713) and the greenback was at 109.62 yen (109.07).
On the crosses, the kiwi was buying A86.43c (A86.36), 65.23 yen (64.96), 0.5109 euro (0.5089), 35.64 pence (35.67), and 0.7908 Swiss francs (0.7853).
The Australian dollar eased to $1.1570 ($1.1577).
The monetary conditions index was at plus 207 (200), the trade-weighted index was at 61.67 (61.61), and 90-day bank bill yields were at 5.20 per cent (5.21).
The February 2005 government bond yields were 5.40 per cent (5.40), the November 2006s were at 5.74 per cent (5.71), and the November 2011s were at 6.05 per cent (6.03).
- NZPA
<i>Currency:</i> Kiwi range bound on optimistic US data
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