The New Zealand dollar drifted lower yesterday ending the week on a weak note below US42c.
At 5pm the kiwi had slipped to US41.75c, from US42.10c at Thursday's close, while the aussie fell to US51.85c (US52.03c).
"It was just one-way traffic basically most of the day, (kiwi) just drifting lower," one local dealer said. "There was just some local banks having a bit of a play that's all. The aussie's drifted a bit lower on the day but only marginally, it's not really done anything.
"(Kiwi) started off about US42c and drifted off to a low of US41.67c. There was a few stop-losses around US41.70c, which looked attractive to the locals watching them. It seems to have found its feet with some Asian buying around US41.70c, which has pushed us back to that US41.80c," he said.
The next major support is around US41.50/60c.
"I think it might drift off a little lower (overnight), I can't see it much above US41.90c so possibly it will test the down side.
"I don't think (breaking through into a new range) is possible at all."
In offshore trading, major currencies crept up on the yen which earlier fell to eight month lows against the greenback.
Views on the US economy were more ambiguous after a mixed set of data on Thursday. Initial US jobless claims were down 86,000 to 394,000 for the week ended December 8, but November retail sales fell 3.7 per cent, the largest monthly drop on record.
The greenback got some help from a CNN report, citing US military officials, that Osama bin Laden was thought to be surrounded in a cave complex by anti-Taliban fighters and US forces in Afghanistan.
On the crosses at 5pm the kiwi was trading at A80.53c (A80.74c at yesterday's close), 52.96 yen (52.92), 28.95 pence (29.02), 0.9126 marks (0.9140), 0.6882 Swiss francs (0.6891) and 46.64 euros (46.73).
The Australian dollar was buying $NZ1.2413 from $NZ1.2387.
The trade-weighted index was at 50.01 (50.14), the 90-day bank bills were unchanged at 4.86 per cent and the monetary conditions index was at minus 876 (minus 863).
On the debt market, the March 2002 bonds were at 4.75 per cent (4.74 per cent), the April 2004s were at 5.54 per cent (5.53), the November 2006s were at 6.19 per cent (6.17) and the November 2011s were at 6.64 per cent (6.62).
- NZPA
<i>Currency:</i> Kiwi slips back below one month highs
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