The New Zealand dollar was marking time yesterday as a holiday in Tokyo kept many Asian investors at bay.
By 5pm the local unit was trading at US47.06c compared with Friday's close of US47.25c. The Australian currency also drifted downwards to US54.61c (US54.90c on Friday).
Tokyo markets were closed for the Autumnal Equinox holiday, and the Australasian units were sidelined as the market focused on bigger global issues like the German election and rising Middle East tensions.
"It has been very quiet. Kiwi has traded in a US46.95c to US47.10c range as the Japanese holiday kept things very quiet in Asia," a local dealer said.
Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder's Social Democrat-Green coalition narrowly saw off conservative challenger Edmund Stoiber to win Germany's election. Financial markets had been hoping for a clear-cut election result either way, but the euro held its ground, ending here at US98.14c compared with US98.50c at Friday's close.
Its downside could be tested again when Europe opens, but the US dollar has its own worries with rising Middle East tensions and fears of war pushing oil prices to 19-month highs.
With those tensions as a backdrop, dealers expected the kiwi to trade a similarly narrow range of US46.80c to US47.15c overnight.
This week local data includes current account figures on Thursday and GDP figures on Friday, but offshore movements are expected to provide the greatest direction.
"Unless there are major surprises in that data, then it is more likely to be offshore issues and movements in the US dollar that will have an impact," one local dealer said.
Against its major trading partners, the kiwi was trading at A86.18c (A85.97c at Friday's close), 57.95 yen (57.90), 30.29 pence (30.47), 0.7015 Swiss francs (0.7008), and 0.4795 euro (0.4793).
The aussie was buying $NZ1.1604 ($NZ1.1635).
On the money market, 90-day bills were little changed at 5.88 per cent (5.87 per cent), the trade-weighted index was at 54.16 (54.18) and the monetary conditions index was at minus 377 (minus 375).
The April 2004 bonds were at 5.56 per cent (5.59), the November 2006 bonds were at 5.82 per cent (5.87), and the November 2011 bonds were at 6.01 per cent (6.07).
- NZPA
<i>Currency:</i> Kiwi treads water as offshore tensions dominate
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