The New Zealand dollar traded lightly and tightly yesterday, as the markets awaits offshore direction.
Markets were expected to be quiet both today and Friday, pending the US Thanksgiving holiday on Thursday.
Rising US bonds were also diverting attention from currency markets, and there had been "huge volumes going through".
"It's really a
bond story over the last week rather than a currency story," said one dealer. "Last week they sold off very aggressively and last night they recovered 10 basis points ...Bonds have been very volatile and there's been good two-way interest."
At 5pm the New Zealand dollar was little changed against the greenback, trading at US41.49c compared with US41.56c at yesterday's close.
The aussie was buying US52.05c (US52.19c yesterday).
Both currencies traded lightly, although the Australian dollar continued to pin New Zealand dollar below A80c. The aussie slipped slightly to $NZ1.2545 ($NZ1.2558) while the kiwi climbed to A79.72c (A79.63c)
Earlier today Bank of New Zealand forex manager Greg Ball said the Australian unit's strength coincided with fresh rumours that the world's largest gold miner, AngloGold Ltd, was poised to take over Australia's Normandy Mining Ltd.
On the other crosses at 5pm the kiwi was trading at 0.4719 euros (0.4710 at yesterday's close), 51.09 yen (51.07), 29.32 pence (29.13), 0.9229 marks (0.9212), and 0.6868 Swiss francs (0.6906).
The trade-weighted index was at 49.64 (49.60), the 90-day bank bills were at 4.86 per cent (4.88), and the monetary conditions index was at minus 914 (minus 916).
On the debt market, the March 2002 bonds were 4.77 per cent (4.80), the November 2004s were at 5.31 per cent (5.39), the November 2006s were at 5.90 per cent (5.97), and the November 2011s were at 6.41 per cent (6.46).
- NZPA
