The New Zealand dollar had another quiet day with a mere three-point range yesterday.
At 5pm the kiwi traded at US42.25c, just two points shy of Monday's US42.27c close, while its Australian counterpart was at US51.85c (US51.80c).
Jon Clarke of Bancorp Treasury Services said US data due out in the next 48 hours would give an idea whether the optimists or pessimists - like Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan - held sway.
Dealers said Dr Greenspan's downbeat assessment of the world's powerhouse economy continued to weigh on the Australasian growth currencies.
Dr Greenspan on Friday dashed optimism for a swift rebound from recession, throwing cold water on a fourth-quarter stock market rally.
"The (New Zealand) market itself still has to go through its traditional stage of exporter conversions of agricultural products that we're getting into the season for now," Mr Clarke said.
"Things seem to have been a little later than normal there, so that might provide some support. But (kiwi's) still got to keep its eye on things like the aussie which are just not getting on with life," Mr Clarke said.
Dampened commodity prices were still weighing on the aussie, while the greenback may be unsettled by further earnings reports from large companies such as IBM and Microsoft this week.
Offshore model-based buyers which pushed the kiwi over US43c last week were still lurking, although not taking a very active part this week, he said. They were likely to remain in view unless the kiwi slipped below US42c, in which case they would exit.
The kiwi had quite firm support and was unlikely to ease much overnight, he said.
The euro softened slightly in early local trade to US89.40c from US89.48c at Monday's close, while the US dollar was buying 131.41 yen (131.76).
On the crosses at 5pm the kiwi was buying A81.46c (A81.60c at yesterday's close), 55.49 yen (55.69), 29.15 pence (29.16), 0.6998 Swiss francs (0.6985) and 0.4725 euro (0.4723). The Australian dollar was buying $NZ1.2272 ($NZ1.2260).
The Trade Weighted Index was at 50.93 (50.98), 90-day bank bills were unchanged at 4.86 per cent and the monetary conditions index was at minus 785 (minus 780).
On the debt market the March 2002 bonds were steady at 4.73 per cent, the April 2004s were at 5.56 per cent (5.52), the November 2006s were at 6.12 per cent (6.10) and the November 2011s were at 6.49 per cent (6.46).
- NZPA
<i>Currency:</i> Kiwi stalls in three-point range
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