A rangebound New Zealand dollar firmed more than half a cent today against the greenback, but its strength was curbed ahead of fresh US data.
At 5pm the New Zealand dollar was US63.58c compared with US63.05c at yesterday's close.
Against the Australian dollar, the kiwi gained only slightly to A83.18c (A83.02c), after strong wage data helped the aussie dollar up to US76.47c (US75.94c yesterday).
The kiwi firmed against most of its trading partners, sending the TWI to 63.45 (63.11).
BNZ strategist Danica Hampton said until today the kiwi had been doing well because of strong inflationary data, keeping interest rates high.
Hopes had also been fading that the US would raise its rates next month, pushing high-yielding currencies like the kiwi back onto the radar.
However, Ms Hampton said that might be re-evaluated if the US consumer price index out tonight was strong.
"If it's benign, we will probably see this bullish sentiment in the aussie and the kiwi and the high-yielders continue for a short-time, perhaps the next two weeks."
She believed overnight the kiwi would find support around US63.30c and resistance around US63.80 c, with US64.10c being a key technical barrier.
But she doubted that barrier would be cracked, and in the medium-term, the BNZ was still bearish about the kiwi.
Meanwhile, the US dollar stayed on the back foot on Wednesday, after surprisingly weak core producer price figures yesterday suggested that the US Federal Reserve might not need to boost rates further to combat inflation.
Reuters currency rates:
5pm today 5pm Tuesday
NZ dlr/US dlr US63.58c US63.05c
NZ dlr/Aust dlr A83.18c A83.02c
NZ dlr/euro 0.4972 0.4950
NZ dlr/yen 73.79 73.47
NZ dlr/stg 33.57p 33.37p
NZ TWI 63.45 63.11
Australian dollar US76.47c US75.94c
Euro/US dollar US1.2788 US1.2735
US dollar/yen 116.06 116.52
- NZPA
<i>Currency:</i> Kiwi's strength curbed ahead of US data
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