KEY POINTS:
The New Zealand dollar held above US55c for most of the day.
The ability of the US stock market to rally for four successive days reduced risk aversion and supported the New Zealand dollar.
"It gained a little bit of strength in the morning session with a positive rally in the Dow ahead of the Thanksgiving Day holiday," said Murray Hindley, ANZ Institutional Bank chief foreign exchange dealer.
He said the NZ dollar came off its highs after the National Bank Business Outlook survey for November showed stable but still negative business expectations.
The NZ dollar was US55.06c at 5pm from US55.17c at 8am and US54.75c at 5pm yesterday.
There is currently support around US54.70c and resistance around US55.50c.
"With the Thanksgiving holiday in New York we would expect trading to be a little subdued," he said.
The New Zealand dollar gained on a weakening euro and was buying 0.4266 euro by 5pm from 0.4221 at 5pm yesterday.
Demand for the euro fell as investors were pessimistic about whether a proposed European stimulus package will be sufficient to ease the financial crisis.
The NZ dollar also lifted against the yen to 52.40 by the local close from 52.05.
Against the Australian dollar, the kiwi was little changed at A84.95c, while the trade weighted index was up to 55.70 from 55.39 at 5pm yesterday.
- NZPA
