The New Zealand dollar was mired in sub-US45c territory today after profit-taking crushed its recent rally.
By 5pm the kiwi was at US44.82c from US45.11c at yesterday's close, while the aussie was at US54.03c from US54.47c the night before.
"It's been a fairly quiet day post a London and New York retracement in the kiwi and aussie," Deutsche Bank dealer Tim Robinson said.
Mr Robinson said the fall in the Australasian currencies was driven by profit-taking and a switch in investor positions from the antipodean units to Europe, where the euro hit a four-month high and the Swiss Franc a six-month high against the greenback.
The euro closed at US90.35c from US90.45c in New York trading, while the Swiss Franc was buying US1.6205.
Overnight the market has been looking for further hints on the US dollar's outlook following the release of April consumer confidence and manufacturing activity data.
Mr Robinson expected the kiwi to trade between US44.75c and US44.95c during the offshore session.
"The dip is an opportunity to buy kiwi and we have seen a little bit of accumulation today and that trend is still intact."
The kiwi lost ground on all the major crosses except the aussie at 5pm, trading at A82.96c (A82.84c at yesterday's close), 0.4961 euro (0.5008 at last night's close), 57.37 yen (57.69), 30.75 pence (30.94) and 0.7261 Swiss francs (0.7333).
The aussie was buying $NZ1.2054 ($NZ1.2076).
The monetary conditions index eased to minus 478 (minus 456), the trade weighted index was at 53.22 (53.51), and 90-day bank bills were at 5.74 per cent (5.68).
On the debt market, the April 2004 bond yields were at 6.10 per cent (6.05), the November 2006s were at 6.58 per cent (6.55), and the November 2011s were at 6.73 per cent (6.71).
- NZPA
<i>Currency</i> Kiwi sub-US45c on profit-taking, Euro shift
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