The New Zealand dollar was initially bid up today as the United States went on orange alert for terrorism -- the second-highest threat level -- but it then eased back as US traders took profits.
The kiwi closed at US64.25c against its US64.67c close yesterday.
A senior Wellington dealer said that Washington'sconcerns about terrorism initially put the US dollar under pressure but that was offset by news that Libya will abandon weapons of mass destruction.
On the local scene, US traders who have had overweight positions in New Zealand dollars, have begun taking profits ahead of their year end.
"That put the kiwi under pressure all day," the Wellington dealer said. Trading was quiet.
He said that US63.80c was a level of critical support while on the top side US65.20c was equally important as a chart point.
The kiwi's indifference to surprisingly strong third quarter GDP (gross domestic product) data on Friday underlined the fact that much of the recent good news about the local economy had already been factored into the market, BNZ strategist Sue Trinh said.
The Australian dollar closed at US73.42c against its US73.97c close on Friday.
The euro was at US$1.2388 (US$1.2413), and the greenback was buying 107.8073 yen (107.69).
Meanwhile on the crosses, the kiwi was buying A87.48c (A87.44c), 0.5185 euro (0.5210), 69.22 yen (69.62), and 36.38 pence (36.57).
The trade weighted index was at 64.54 (64.80), the monetary conditions index was at plus 446 (466) and 90-day bank bills were at 5.33 per cent (5.33).
On the debt market, bonds were unchanged across the curve with February 2005s on 5.46 per cent, February 2006s on 5.58 per cent and November 2011s on 5.87 per cent.
