The New Zealand dollar traded in a narrow range yesterday but still attracted a reasonable amount of interest.
BNZ chief currency dealer Mike Symonds said the kiwi held up well against the Australian dollar, which has lost US1c since its highs on Tuesday.
Strong selling in the aussie was a combination of US dollar strength and repatriation of yen for the end of the Japanese financial year.
The New Zealand dollar was less exposed to the yen, Mr Symonds said.
The kiwi traded at US43.34c about 5 pm, down from 43.42c at 7.30 am, while the aussie sank to 53.14c.
The kiwi traded in a narrow 14-point range but that belied the amount of broad-based interest from local and overseas buyers, Mr Symonds said.
"Offshore clients in particular have been reasonably keen to sell the kiwi, and that's really a function of the weakness we've seen in the Australian dollar.
"[The aussie's] fallen pretty sharply from its highs on Tuesday, and in the context of that fall the kiwi's done quite well. We've seen broad-based US dollar strength - if you look at the euro that's actually fallen over 100 points in the last 24 hours as well," he said.
"The US dollar's certainly back in favour."
Good news for the New Zealand dollar was a commentary from international finance house Goldman Sachs, picking that the kiwi will build on already rapid gains against its Australian counterpart, to rise a further 2 per cent to A83c over the next six months.
- NZPA
<i>Currency:</i> Kiwi holds as $A dives
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