Dollar trades in narrow range

Currency - Close

The New Zealand dollar spent much of today trading in a narrow range after falling away from an eight-week high.

It rose last night, when the United States currency fell against higher-yielding currencies after the Federal Reserve's commitment to low interest rates yesterday prompted investors to seek higher returns elsewhere.

The NZ dollar peaked near US71.80c last night, but by 8am had dropped to US71.44c, and by 5pm today it was US71.33c. It was still above the US71.22c at 5pm yesterday.

"We came off this morning on the back of a weaker aussie and weaker euro and the Dow was down a bit," one dealer said.

"We traded around the US71.30c to US71.35c area for quite a while today," he said.

The NZ dollar had appreciated against the yen and euro but was off its best levels by the close. Overnight it peaked at a two-year high 0.5217 euro and an eight-week high 64.95 yen. By the local close it was down to 0.5199 euro, still above the 0.5166 euro at 5pm yesterday, and was at 64.33 yen from 64.19 yen yesterday.

Against the Australian dollar, the NZ dollar peaked at a two-week high A77.69c but then fell to A77.28c by 5pm, lower than the A77.52c at the local close yesterday.

The trade weighted index was at 65.59 at 5pm from 65.64 at the same time yesterday.

- NZPA