The kiwi traded in a narrow band today as it consolidated from yesterday's falls.
A weaker United States dollar allowed the kiwi to climb back over US62c from an overnight low of US61.42c.
At 5pm the kiwi was fetching US62.30c (from US61.96c at 5pm yesterday), having traded between US61.95c and US62.35c in today's domestic session.
Westpac chief currency dealer Basil Payn expected the kiwi to trade in a range of US61.80c and US62.50c in tonight's offshore session.
The Australian dollar was at US72.07c at 5pm (from US71.97c last night).
"It's been a reasonably quiet day, just sort of consolidating after yesterday's move and the move lower earlier in the week," said Mr Payn.
The greenback slipped after the first quarter GDP data released overnight was lower than expected at 4.2 per cent.
The market had been looking for a figure of up to 6 per cent, while official forecasts had been for 5 per cent.
At 5pm tonight the greenback was buying 110.15 yen (110.21), and the euro was buying US$1.1968 (US$1.1835).
In domestic news, the Reserve Bank's 0.25 per cent rate hike yesterday to 5.5 per cent has not had a huge impact on the kiwi.
But the kiwi did move up against the aussie today. At 5pm the kiwi was buying A86.45c, from A86.10c at 5pm last night.
"With the move of the OCR (official cash rate) yesterday our short term interest rates are now just a tick above Australian short term interest rates. So we have seen some buying of kiwi against the aussie and that's really been the main feature of the day," Mr Payn said.
On the crosses, the kiwi was buying 0.5206 euro (0.5236), 35.10 British pence (35.00), 68.61 yen (68.29), and 0.8043 Swiss francs (0.8095).
The trade-weighted index was at 63.52 (63.38), while the monetary conditions index was at plus 412 (397).
On the debt market, 90-day bank bill yields were at 5.79 per cent (from 5.78 per cent).
The February 2006 yields were unchanged at 5.74 per cent, July 2009s were unchanged at 6.02 per cent, and April 2013s were at 6.19 per cent (6.18).
- NZPA
<i>Currency:</i> Kiwi trades in narrow range, stronger against Aussie
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