NZPA - The New Zealand dollar trod water yesterday, pinned down by an equally static Australian dollar.
After reacting overnight to a weaker aussie, the kiwi had a "non-existent day", one dealer said. At 5pm it was trading at US41.78c, one point off its close Tuesday, while its aussie cousin failed to garner many offers on the topside, closing at US51.49c (US51.82c yesterday).
Dealers agreed the kiwi was unlikely to break a US41c-42c range before Christmas.
They picked it to trade between US41.55-75c overnight.
Neither currency received much benefit from an IMF report overnight showing the Australian and New Zealand economies looking relatively robust in a generally gloomy global outlook.
The main focus was again on the yen which sank to a three-year low against the US dollar for a third straight day as Japan's finance minister piled pressure on the Bank of Japan (BOJ) to loosen already easy monetary policy.
The US dollar strengthened during the day to buy 128.19 yen at the day's close while the euro was slightly lower at US90.14c.
On the crosses the kiwi was buying A81.10c (A80.64 at yesterday's close) 53.53 yen (53.56), 28.71 pence (28.61), 0.9061 marks (0.9036), 0.6850 Swiss francs (0.6815) and 46.33 euros (46.25).
The Australian dollar was buying fewer kiwi at $NZ1.2331 from $NZ1.2401 yesterday.
A revised trade-weighted index was at 50.05 (49.99), the 90-day bank bills were at 4.86 per cent (4.87) and the monetary conditions index tightened to minus 872 (minus 878).
On the debt market, the March 2002 bonds were flat at 4.75 per cent, the April 2004s were at 5.54 per cent (5.48), the November 2006s were at 6.19 per cent (6.26) and the November 2011s were at 6.65 per cent (6.72).
- NZPA
<i>Currency:</i> Kiwi settles in with Aussie for quiet Xmas
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