NZ dollar in narrow range

The New Zealand dollar traded in a very narrow range today.

Government accounts for the eight months to February did not provide any impetus and there were no market moving events in the Australian diary today.

The NZ dollar was at US70.73c at 5pm from US70.62c at 8am and US70.46c at 5pm yesterday.

"It has traded in a narrow US70.60c to US70.80c range. I think markets are thinking about the weekend and the nice weather out there," said Danica Hampton, currency strategist at BNZ.

Against the Australian dollar, the NZ dollar edged up to A76.22c at 5pm, from A75.91c at the same time yesterday.

The Australian dollar was up nearly a US cent this week and was near 20-month highs in trade-weighted terms, Reuters reported.

The NZ dollar was at 66.14 yen at 5pm from 65.65 yesterday, and was 0.5294 euro from 0.5283 yesterday.

The trade weighted index rose to 65.82 from 65.61 yesterday.

- NZPA