The New Zealand dollar was almost unchanged against the US dollar today but failed to find favour with Australian dealers.
By 5pm, the kiwi was at US57.32c, unchanged from 9am but lower than its 5pm level yesterday of US57.75c.
The aussie stood at US65.75c, from US65.99c yesterday.
Earl White of Bancorp Treasury Services said the kiwi weakened overnight on the back of a stronger US dollar and a weaker aussie.
"Really it spent the bulk of the day trading in a very narrow range," Mr White said.
"It seems the market is adjusting itself to an expectation of lower rates worldwide. The kiwi did get a bit of a benefit from that last week but with the Aussies back after their holiday today, they were pretty keen to sell kiwi/aussie."
He picked the kiwi to trade overnight between US57.50/80c, after seeing a range during the day of US57.20/35c.
The fate of the currency is likely to become clearer in a few weeks when the US Federal Reserve is speculated to drop interest rates again.
The greenback came under fresh pressure in Tokyo after Freddie Mac -- the second-largest US mortgage finance firm -- fired its president over an accounting scandal, generating concerns about the health of US assets.
However, the euro gained compared with its level prior to comments from British Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown that Britain was not yet ready to join the euro zone.
In Wellington at 5pm, the euro rose to US$1.1723 from US$1.1697 last night, while the US dollar fell to 118.23 yen (118.48).
On the crosses at 5pm, the kiwi was buying A87.18c (A87.51c), 67.78 yen (68.43) 34.79 pence (0.3478), 0.7539 Swiss francs (0.7623) and 0.4889 euro (0.4937).
The monetary conditions index was at plus 135 (170), the trade-weighted index was at 60.72 (61.16) and 90-day bank bill yields were at 5.27 per cent (5.24).
On the debt market, February 2005 yields were at 4.78 per cent (4.82), November 2006s were at 4.80 per cent (4.86) and November 2011s were at 5.18 per cent (5.26).
- NZPA
<I>NZ currency:</I> Kiwi little changed v greenback, falls against Aussie
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