KEY POINTS:
The New Zealand dollar had a fairly quiet domestic session today after briefly rising to US55c for the first time in nearly two weeks overnight.
By 5pm the NZ dollar was buying US54.60c from US54.31c at 8am and US54.75c at 5pm yesterday.
Overnight, a stabilisation in global equities and lingering concern about how the US government would fund its fiscal spending splurge saw the greenback weaken broadly and that lent a bit of support to the NZ dollar.
The NZ dollar headed down to around US53.85c when the Dow Jones index was coming off during a volatile session it ultimately ended ahead on.
The NZ dollar became well-bid particularly on crosses during the day. It rose to A83.10c against the Australian dollar from A82.50c yesterday.
Having peaked above 51 yen overnight, the kiwi was down to 50.46 yen by 5pm, which compared to 50.70 yen at yesterday's local close.
Against the euro, the NZ dollar was 0.4183 from 0.4225 at 5pm yesterday.
The trade weighted index was 54.82 at 5pm from 55.03 yesterday.
Dealers said attention is turning to New Zealand retail trade data for October due tomorrow.
Currency rates:
NZ dlr/US dlr US54.60c US54.75c
NZ dlr/Aust dlr
A83.10c A82.50c
NZ dlr/euro 0.4183 0.4225
NZ dlr/yen 50.46 50.70
NZ dlr/stg 36.70p 37.08p
NZ TWI 54.82 55.03
Aust dlr/US dlr US65.70 US66.29c
Euro/US dlr 1.3046 1.2954
US dlr/yen 92.42 92.58
- NZPA
