11.20pm
The New Zealand dollar spent the day consolidating its recent move lower against a resurgent United States dollar, a broker said.
At 5pm, the New Zealand dollar was fetching US67.29c (from US67.71c at the same time last night), having traded between US67.10c and US67.33c today.
Overnight on Tuesday, the New Zealand dollar hit a 6-1/2 year high of US68.71c, but it had spent the rest of this week retreating from that mark.
BNZ currency strategist Sue Trinh said key US manufacturing data released last night caused the US dollar to spike higher, forcing the New Zealand dollar down today.
The Philadelphia Federal Reserve survey of factories in the mid-Atlantic region showed the laggard US manufacturing sector was starting to hum.
That followed news overnight on Wednesday that the US trade deficit unexpectedly narrowed in November from October.
"The US dollar is finding a moderate lift across the board at the moment as global investors and traders generally take a profit," Ms Trinh told NZPA today.
"The kiwi has continued to consolidate its recent moves lower, following the euro and global currencies down.
"For how much longer it (the New Zealand dollar's consolidation) has to play out is anyone's guess, but we say the pullback could have a further run and, to that end, US66.80c is key support on the downside," she said.
The New Zealand dollar's consolidation had also been helped by the European Central Bank's (ECB) stance on the euro-US dollar cross.
"Overnight there were a few ECB officials talking the euro down and that's caused... the euro to come off a little bit and also it's given the US dollar a bit of a lift," Ms Trinh said.
At market's close, the euro was at US$1.2595c ($1.2655), after testing the US$1.29 level earlier this week.
Ms Trinh expected some direction for the euro-US dollar cross to come from the Group of Seven meeting in Florida on February 6.
Meanwhile, the US dollar was at 106.14 yen (106.20).
On the crosses the New Zealand dollar was buying A87.26c (A87.42), 0.5343 euro (0.5350), 71.41 yen (71.90), 36.88 British pence (36.93), and 0.8372 Swiss francs (0.8342).
On a trade weighted basis, the kiwi was at 66.41 (66.68).
The monetary conditions index was at plus 586 (605), and 90-day bank bills were at 5.32 per cent (5.30).
On the debt market, February 2006 bond yields were unchanged at 5.41 per cent, July 2009 bonds were unchanged at 5.68 per cent, and April 2013 bonds were at 5.83 per cent (5.85).
- NZPA
<i>Currency:</i> NZ dollar consolidates its move lower against the US
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