The New Zealand dollar steadied after a rollercoaster ride on Thursday night, after a fifth of shares in sharemarket heavyweight Telecom were sold by United States cornerstone shareholder Verizon.
Overnight the kiwi sunk to a low of US46.48c before squeezing up to US47.07c.
By 5pm the kiwi was trading at US46.95c compared with US46.82c Thursday, while its aussie counterpart was at US54.46c (US54.40c).
One local dealer said the kiwi was still fixated on international concerns, despite growth data surprising to the upside yesterday.
It traded between US46.90c and US47.10c during the day, hitting the high briefly on the release of gross domestic product figures in the morning.
Exports boosted New Zealand's economy in the three months to June, with Statistics New Zealand figures showing that GDP rose by 1.7 per cent for the quarter.
Economists polled by Reuters had expected, on average, quarterly growth of 1.1 per cent.
Annual growth also came in above expectations, with New Zealand's seasonally adjusted GDP expanding by 3.5 per cent for the year ended June. That compared with an average 3.2 per cent forecast of annual GDP growth.
"Kiwi's consolidated after Thursday's volatility," the dealer said.
"News of Verizon's (Telecom) sell-down, co-ordinated by Merrill Lynch, meant a lot of United States-sourced selling.
"It's held up US46.40c very well - it's the third or fourth time it's sold well in the last fortnight," the dealer said.
"It will be awaiting developments next week."
The Reserve Bank's Monetary Policy Statement on Tuesday - with an expected no change in interest rates - will be overshadowed by continued worries about global economic growth and the threat of a US attack on Iraq.
The kiwi was likely to be capped by US47.10c overnight, with "very good support" at US46.80c, he said.
The greenback eased slightly after a boost by news of record high housing sales and a US durable goods report on Thursday that confirmed the US recovery from recession was on track.
But US investors' fears about possible war with Iraq and global economic uncertainty kept major currencies within recent ranges.
Dealers were also cautious ahead of this weekend's meeting of finance ministers and central bankers from the Group of Seven top industrialised countries in Washington, DC.
In Wellington the US dollar traded at 122.36 yen, compared with Thursday night's close of 122.93 yen, while the euro rose slightly to US97.76c from US97.82c.
On the crosses at 5pm the kiwi was trading at A86.22c (A86.06c at Thursday's close), 57.45 yen (57.56), 30.12 pence (30.02), 0.7046 Swiss francs (0.7011), and 0.4804 euro (0.4786). The aussie was buying $NZ1.1598 ($NZ1.1622).
On the money market, 90-day bills were at 5.86 per cent (5.87), the trade-weighted index was at 54.03 (54.92) while the monetary conditions index tightened to minus 388 from minus 399 at yesterday's close.
The April 2004 bonds yields were at 5.66 per cent (5.64), the November 2006 bonds rose to 5.93 per cent (5.90), and the November 2011 bonds rose to 6.09 per cent (6.06).
- NZPA
<i>Currency:</i> Kiwi retains balance after rollercoaster ride
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