The New Zealand dollar made ground above US47c yesterday as the United States dollar was undermined by continued concerns about growth and war.
By 5pm the kiwi traded at US47.27c, up on Tuesday's close of US46.85c, while the aussie rose to US54.63c from US54.26c last night.
Graeme Blackwood of Deutsche Bank said the kiwi appeared to have followed the aussie around yesterday, with little momentum of its own.
"It's firmed a little bit," he said.
"The US dollar is weaker across the board, on the back of the weaker stocks. ... Essentially we're marking ground, although we're moving up or down a little bit against the US dollar."
The kiwi has been trapped in a wider range of US46.40c and US47.40c since mid-August.
Yesterday it traded between US47.01/20c, and Mr Blackwood picked it to rise a little overnight.
"We tried to get down (below the bottom) on Tuesday and failed, and now we're back above US47.10c. I think the US has a few more woes in its stockmarket. Just with the general weakness of the US dollar, (kiwi and aussie) won't go down."
In Tokyo, the greenback edged lower but took in its stride a widely expected decision by the US Federal Reserve to keep interest rates at four-decade lows of 1.75 per cent.
Also weighing on the US dollar was a US consumer confidence survey, which showed steep losses on Wall St and fears about a possible US military attack against Iraq had pulled consumer sentiment down to its lowest level since November 2001.
In Wellington the US dollar traded at 122.54 yen, down from Tuesday night's close of 123.48, and the euro made ground to US98.22c from a New Zealand close of US97.75c yesterday.
On the crosses at 5pm the kiwi was trading at A86.54c (A86.35c at Tuesday's close), 57.94 yen (57.85), 30.30 pence (30.23), 0.7042 Swiss francs (0.7016), and 0.4813 euro (0.4792).
The aussie was buying $NZ1.1568 ($NZ1.1581).
On the money market, 90-day bills were at 5.87 per cent (5.85), the trade-weighted index was at 54.27 (54.06) and the monetary conditions index had tightened to minus 367 (minus 386).
The April 2004 bonds were unchanged at 5.55 per cent, the November 2006 bonds were at 5.78 per cent (5.80), and the November 2011 bonds were at 5.93 per cent (5.96).
- NZPA
<i>Currency:</i> Kiwi rises above US47c but constrained in broader range
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