The New Zealand dollar drifted lower against a broadly rising greenback in a relatively quiet night on currency markets.By 8am the kiwi was buying US74.88c from US75.27c at 5pm yesterday, but it did edge up to 61.06 yen from 60.85.Investors have been wary
The New Zealand dollar drifted lower against a broadly rising greenback in a relatively quiet night on currency markets.
By 8am the kiwi was buying US74.88c from US75.27c at 5pm yesterday, but it did edge up to 61.06 yen from 60.85.
Investors have been wary of pushing the US dollar lower after the euro repeatedly failed to hold above key resistance at $US1.40.
Overall, uncertainty about the extent of quantitative easing measures the US Federal Reserve may take next week kept foreign exchange trading in predictable ranges.
The US dollar rose against the yen, edging away from 15-year lows after Japan's finance minister Yoshihiko Noda warned the government would "act decisively" in currency markets if needed.
BNZ markets strategist Mike Jones said the NZ dollar spent most of yesterday and overnight drifting lower, with sharp losses against the British currency providing some headwinds.
The NZ dollar was down to 47.29p at 8am from 47.86p at 5pm after figures showed the British economy grew 0.8 percent in the third quarter, twice as much as economists had forecast. Sterling extended gains after S&P rating agency raised its outlook on Britain to stable from negative.
Mr Jones said the rise in British GDP put a stop to persistent rumours additional quantitative easing was needed in Britain.
The kiwi edged up against the Australian dollar to A76.12c at 8am from A75.98c at 5pm, and to 0.5407 euro from 0.5393. The trade weighted index was 66.58 at 8am from 66.63 at 5pm.
