There was whippy trading in a wide range in a busy New Zealand dollar market today, dealers said.
They expect the kiwi to draw breath around US67c before it launches its next assault on the US70c goal.
It finished the session at US67.10c, having started on a new 6-1/2-year high of US67.35c and trading down as low as US66.78c. It closed yesterday at US66.94c.
The Australian dollar finished at US76.80c (US76.70c).
"We could see a little bit of a pullback to US66.50c before trying to take out US67.50c," said ANZ Investment Bank chief dealer in Wellington Murray Hindley. "It certainly feels like it is going to go higher but we've had such a bolter into the New Year we maybe need a little bit of consolidation.
"Certainly, the market feels as though it is targetting a 70 cent kiwi and an 80 cent aussie," he said.
The kiwi's surge above the US67c mark came after Fed Reserve governor Ben Bernanke this week said it was right to hold rates at 1 per cent, their lowest in 45 years.
Commodity prices have again firmed up, which gave added support to commodity currencies like the kiwi and aussie."
Meanwhile, the euro rose to US$1.2721, well down on its US$1.2767 opening but still up on yesterday's US$1.2678 close.
The greenback was steady against the yen, buying 106.28 compared with 106.14 yesterday. On the crosses, the New Zealand dollar was buying A87.33c (A87.20c), 0.5275 euro (0.5277), 71.32 yen (71.00 yen), 36.87 British pence (37.02), and 0.8273 Swiss francs (0.8246).
The monetary conditions index was at plus 573 (564), the trade-weighted index was at 66.14 (66.02) and 90-day bank bills were unchanged at 5.39 per cent.
On the debt market, February 2006 bond yields fell to 5.61 per cent (5.66) and November 2011 yields dropped to 5.99 per cent (6.03).
- NZPA
<i>Currency:</i> NZ dollar draws breath ahead of next expected assault
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