The New Zealand dollar spent the day consolidating its recent gains, which included testing six-year highs in overnight trading last night.
At 5pm, the kiwi was fetching US61.79c (from US61.36c at yesterday's close), while the Australian dollar was at US71.16c (US70.95c).
BNZ currency strategist Sue Trinh said the kiwi today consolidated below the highs of last night's session, largely due to a mixed performance by the US dollar.
It traded between US61.52c and US61.80c, she said, noting the overnight high was US61.92c, the highest since December 1997.
"For now the kiwi and rest of the commodity currencies are doing very well indeed," she told NZPA today.
"Also, it's had a bit of a rise from the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA)."
Yesterday, the RBA bumped that country's official cash rate up 25 basis points to 5.00 per cent in a move to rein in soaring consumer debt and a property boom.
"It's leading a lot of people to speculate that maybe the Reserve Bank of New Zealand will tighten rates sooner rather than later as well," she said.
Meanwhile, foreign exchange markets would be watching the greenback, which had been benefiting from better than expected data in recent sessions.
The next directional cue out of the US would be payroll data tomorrow night, giving an insight into that country's labour market.
At 5pm, the US dollar was at 110.09 yen (109.65), while the euro was at US$1.1437 (US$1.1485).
On the crosses, the kiwi was buying 68.04 yen (67.28), 36.85 pence (36.40), 0.8469 Swiss francs (0.8367), and 0.5402 euro (0.5343).
The Australian dollar was at $1.1514 ($1.1563).
The trade weighted index was at 63.99 (63.45), the monetary conditions index was at plus 403 (359), and 90-day bank bills were at 5.33 per cent (5.31).
On the debt market, yields on April 2004 bonds were at 5.28 per cent (5.25), February 2006s were at 5.90 per cent (5.83), and November 2011s were at 6.20 per cent (6.15).
- NZPA
<i>Currency:</i> Kiwi spends day consolidating under last night's highs
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