KEY POINTS:
After last week's dive, the New Zealand dollar gained during the weekend.
By 8am today the kiwi was buying US60.19c from US59.30c at 5pm on Friday. Last Monday morning it was buying US66c.
Bank of New Zealand currency strategist Danica Hampton said the NZ dollar seemed to have found a floor against the greenback below US58c, at least for now.
A variety of local exporters and real-money accounts had shown appetite for the kiwi against the US dollar on dips, and solid support was seen ahead of last week's low of US57.85c.
On the topside, some headwinds were expected around the US62.40c to US62.50c region in the near term, Hampton said.
But the NZ dollar had the potential to push back towards US64c to US64.50c should risk appetite and equity market confidence improve substantially.
ANZ bank said downside risks remained for commodity-related currencies.
Markets were waiting for any news from European policymakers, who were in a race against time to propose further measures to free up credit markets before markets opened, ANZ said.
At today's local open the NZ dollar was at 0.4458 euro from 0.4382 at 5pm Friday, while against the yen the kiwi moved up to 60.63 from 58.50.
The kiwi was also up against the Australian dollar, buying A91.15c at 8am today from A89.60c at Friday's local close. But the NZ dollar was falling away from a peak around A93.95c, its highest level in nearly three years, reached on Saturday morning. The trade weighted index rose to 60.05 from 59.03.
- NZPA
