The New Zealand dollar was going nowhere fast yesterday after a quiet session left it where it began.
By 5pm the kiwi traded at US47.87c, at exactly the same level as Thursday's close, while the aussie was at US54.75c from US54.80c last night.
Trading was very quiet today, Bank of New Zealand currency strategist Stu Ritson said.
"It would be hard to get excited about the kiwi at the moment, it seems to be very much range trading between the key US47.80c level and US48.10c.
"The focus, going into the end of the week, is whether the kiwi can hold above US47.80c," he said.
Next week's Consumers Price Index was unlikely to provoke any reaction from the forex market, with economists forecasting a 0.6 per cent rise in the September quarter to give a 2.7 per cent annual rate versus 2.8 per cent in the June year.
"At the moment inflation isn't really a problem in the world. If anything, deflation is, so CPIs lose a bit of relevance in this sort of environment," Mr Ritson said.
Against the aussie, the kiwi closed in Wellington yesterday at A87.44c, compared with A87.36c yesterday, and well down from near five-year highs reached earlier this week.
"Both aussie and kiwi have a really soft tone, they're on really key supports.
"If we break through US47.80c, things will very quickly change on the down side."
Offshore, dealers said no major currency looked especially attractive, with the United States, Europe and Japan all having problems in their economies and share markets.
The US dollar was buying 123.92, compared with yesterday's 123.63, while the euro was trading at US98.64c from US98.90c.
On the other crosses at 5pm, the kiwi was buying 0.4852 euro (0.4841), 59.30 yen (59.19), 0.3059 pence (0.3059) and 0.7103 Swiss francs (0.7084).
The aussie was buying $1.1436 ($1.1447).
The New Zealand dollar trade-weighted index rose to 55.05 (54.99 yesterday). The 90-day bill yield was unchanged at 5.87 per cent and the monetary conditions index tightened to minus 295 from minus 301.
In the bond market yields rose, with the April 2004 bond at 5.60 per cent (5.56 per cent), the November 2006 yield at 5.92 per cent (5.88 per cent) and the November 2011 bond yield at 6.17 per cent (6.13 per cent).
- NZPA
<i>Currency:</i>Kiwi going nowhere
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