KEY POINTS:
The New Zealand dollar held its own yesterday, despite big drops on Asian stock markets and holiday-affected trading.
At 5pm the New Zealand dollar was at US76.81c against the greenback, down from a peak of US77.40c early on Saturday and US77.14c at Friday's close.
"It's been a fairly quiet day with both Auckland and Sydney out [due to public holidays], it's kept things pretty light," Westpac currency analyst Michael Gordon said.
Traders said the kiwi opened low around US76.75c in the wake of another fall on Wall St on Friday night, but peaked at US77.05c due to buying by exporters. It shrugged off a 2.5 per cent drop on Japan's Nikkei bourse, but weakened in tandem with European currencies after a downbeat comment by a Bank of England council member that UK rates should go lower.
Elsewhere, the kiwi strengthened slightly against the Aussie and euro, to A87.44c (A87.32c on Friday) and 0.5235 euro (0.5228). It dropped to 81.77 yen (82.72 yen), and the trade weighted index dipped to 70.84 (71.16).
The euro was buying US$1.4676 (US$1.4763 on Friday) after European Central Bank officials damped down speculation that a rate cut could come this year.
- NZPA