6.02pm
The New Zealand dollar bobbed around the US70c mark today after breaking through that level during the long weekend on US dollar weakness.
At 5pm in Wellington the kiwi was at US70.08c from US69.25c at 5pm on Friday, having traded between US69.92c and US70.15c during the day.
"The market sentiment is still
to sell US dollars," a Wellington dealer said.
The kiwi gained the US70c level during Friday's offshore session on renewed weakness in the United States dollar, which dropped within a cent of record lows.
Record high oil prices, mixed US economic data, low interest rates and a large and growing current account deficit have weighed on the greenback.
However, the dealer said the kiwi's rise against the greenback had been a little more subdued today compared to other major currencies. "It's tended to sit on the sidelines", he said.
The dealer said the kiwi was now awaiting Thursday's Reserve Bank of New Zealand interest rate call. With the market widely expecting a 25 basis point hike to 6.5 per cent, "traders are more curious about how the RBNZ will view things further out," he said.
Meanwhile, the Australian dollar was buying US74.94c at 5pm today (US73.67c at 5pm on Friday).
The euro was at US$1.2829 (US$1.2611), and the greenback was buying 106.64 yen (107.68).
On the crosses the kiwi was buying A93.55c (A94.01c), 0.5461 euro (0.5494), 38.01 British pence (37.89), 74.71 yen (74.59), and 0.8362 Swiss francs (0.8450).
The trade-weighted index was at 69.19 (69.06), while the monetary conditions index was at 936 (926).
On the money market, 90-day bank bill yields were unchanged at 6.75 per cent.
February 2006 bond yields were static at 6.19 per cent, July 2009s were at 6.04 per cent (6.07) and April 2013s were at 6.04 per cent (6.08).
- NZPA
