5.30pm
The New Zealand dollar closed higher against the currencies of its trading partners today, ahead of a monetary policy statement (MPS) by the Reserve Bank (RBNZ) later this week.
At 5pm, the kiwi was fetching US64.07c (from US64.05c), having hit a session low of US63.32c.
Against the aussie, the kiwi was at A89.90c (from (A89.79c).
An ANZ broker said the kiwi had put in a positive day's trade on its major crosses.
"It (the session) has had its moments. We started lower (against the US dollar) and (initially) headed lower," the broker told NZPA today.
However, the kiwi-greenback cross rallied higher through the day and clawed back the 3.5 per cent it lost last week after upbeat comments on the US economy by US Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan.
"I guess everyone will now be looking for comments from (RBNZ governor Alan) Bollard later this week," the ANZ broker said.
On Thursday, Dr Bollard is issuing a MPS, with the market factoring in an official cash rate rise of 25 basis points, taking it to 6.0 per cent.
The Bank of New Zealand today said further depreciation of the kiwi could not be ruled out, but the robust domestic economy should limit further losses to US62c in the near term.
Meanwhile, the euro was buying US$1.2137 (US$1.2241). The greenback was buying 109.57 yen (109.77).
On the crosses, the kiwi was buying 34.88 British pence (34.77), 0.5278 euro (0.5235), 70.19 yen (70.32), and 0.8092 Swiss francs (0.8006).
The monetary conditions index was at plus 577 (575), while the trade-weighted index was at 65.00 (64.89).
On the money and debt markets ninety-day bank bill yields were at 6.30 per cent (6.29 per cent), February 2006 bonds were at 5.99 per cent (5.98), July 2009s were at 6.02 per cent (5.98), and April 2013s were at 6.11 per cent (6.08).
- NZPA
<i>Currency:</i> NZ dollar closes slightly higher on major crosses: broker
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