The New Zealand dollar slipped in very quiet trading yesterday afternoon, following the trajectory of its mate across the Tasman.
At 5pm the kiwi was at US45.50c, down from US45.72c on Thursday night, while the aussie slipped to US53.41c from Thursday's close of US53.65c.
One local dealer said the kiwi had a very small range of US45.39/59c yesterday and was likely to trade between US45.30/60c overnight.
"New York had a bit of interest in selling, and a few locals were the other way around, interested in buying it around US45.50c," the dealer said.
"But when the aussie broke through below US53.40c and took a look at the low US53.30c then we dribbled off ... and were really struggling all afternoon.
"I think in the afternoon it's only been US45.39/47c, it's been very quiet," he said.
Volume was squashed by a holiday in Singapore yesterday.
"Things do seem to be moving, euro's moving, sterling seems to be moving, but the aussie's been dead and the kiwi's been very dead."
The market is largely expecting has priced in a no-change from the Reserve Bank when it announces its decision on Wednesday about whether to raise the Official Cash Rate. The OCR is currently 5.75 per cent, and the key 90-day bills are at 5.89 per cent.
In offshore trade, the US dollar briefly rose to a six-week high against the yen after three consecutive days of rallies on Wall Street, before selling by profit-takers and Japanese exporters pushed it down.
On the crosses at 5pm, the kiwi was at A85.20c (A85.21c at Thursday's close), 54.93 yen (54.94), 29.65 pence (29.69), 0.6874 Swiss francs (0.6838), and 0.4696 euro (0.4688).
The aussie was trading at $NZ1.1738 ($NZ1.1736).
On the money market, 90-day bills were at 5.89 per cent (5.86), the trade-weighted index was at 52.54 (52.62) and the monetary conditions index was at minus 527 (minus 522).
On the debt market, the April 2004 bonds were at 5.60 per cent (5.54), the November 2006 bonds were at 6.04 per cent (6.00), and the November 2011 bonds were at 6.33 per cent (6.28).
- NZPA
<i>Currency:</i> NZ and Aussie dollars slip in quiet trade
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