The New Zealand dollar emerged from a brief period of consolidation to head half a cent higher during today's local session.
Yesterday the kiwi had been looking softer despite a post-US payrolls data sell-off in the greenback which began on Friday night.
But by 5pm in Wellington today the kiwi was buying US67.96c from US67.46c at 8.30am this morning and US67.33c at 5pm last night, having traded between US67.45c and US68.05c.
Its Australian counterpart was buying US76.34c (US75.63c at 5pm last night).
ANZ Investment Bank chief foreign exchange dealer Murray Hindley said the kiwi was reasonably well bid over the course of today's session.
He said this week featured the release of some key domestic data, including retail sales tomorrow and food price index data and the Reserve Bank's Monetary Policy Statement (MPS) on Thursday.
"I would expect the kiwi to remain around these levels until then."
Mr Hindley said ANZ Bank economists were picking Reserve Bank Governor Allan Bollard to increase the Official Cash Rate by 25 basis points to 5.50 per cent, but the forex market remained divided on whether he would move or not.
Mr Hindley said any major move in the kiwi would occur after the MPS.
M eanwhile at 5pm the greenback was buying 111.12 yen (112.16), and the euro was fetching US$1.2442 (US$1.2364).
The forex market is expecting Japanese authorities to intervene to limit yen gains in the next few days ahead of the end of Japan's fiscal year on March 31 as currency sensitive firms repatriate earnings from abroad.
Meanwhile, on the crosses the kiwi was fetching A89.05c (88.99c), 0.5462 euro (0.5444), 75.53 yen (75.48), 36.60 British pence (36.49), and 0.8636 Swiss francs (0.8605).
The trade-weighted index was at 67.87 (67.58), while the monetary conditions index was at plus 729 (706).
The 90-day bank bill yields were at 5.66 per cent (5.63).
The February 2006 yields were at 5.50 per cent (5.54), July 2009 bonds were at 5.68 per cent (5.73), and April 2013s were at 5.79 per cent (5.84).
- NZPA
<i>Currency:</i> NZ dollar moves up ahead of key data
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