KEY POINTS:
The New Zealand dollar had a volatile 24 hours, but ended just a touch lower than where it left off yesterday.
By 5pm, the kiwi was at US68.77c from US68.83c late yesterday.
It made better progress against the Aussie, gaining to A88.67c from A89.15c yesterday, recouping some of its nearly 1.5c loss against the Australian unit in the last couple of sessions.
"Overnight it first weakened, the result of a bit of follow-on of the previous day's long positions just being unwound," said Westpac Investment Bank currency strategist Michael Gordon.
"Then there was a period when it gained, based around broad US dollar weakness. We had a bit of buying of kiwi vs Aussie dollars in the morning -- that petered out and it's really just settled slightly below US69c at the moment," Mr Gordon said.
"The buying vs the Aussie was a specific flow, which looks like it's largely been completed. It's more been driven by the comings and goings of the US dollar and the yen."
Overnight he picked a low of US68.40c and a high of US69.20c.
"What we have seen over the day is exporters keen to buy some currency on any dips, so that will tend to provide some support."
The greenback slipped after the Federal Reserve said inflation pressures were likely to moderate, suggesting that the US central bank would not raise interest rates in the coming months.
US dollar sentiment also softened on growing wariness ahead of next week's meeting of financial officials from the Group of Seven industrialised nations in Germany.
Reuters currency rates:
5pm today 5pm yesterday
NZ dlr/US dlr US68.77c US68.83c
NZ dlr/Aust dlr A88.67c A89.15c
NZ dlr/euro 0.5278 0.5312
NZ dlr/yen 83.04 83.69
NZ dlr/stg 35.03p 35.06p
NZ TWI 68.40 68.70
Australian dollar US77.53c US77.25c
Euro/US dollar 1.3031 1.2962
US dollar/yen 120.74 121.56
- NZPA