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NZ dollar eases on USD strength, bonds nudge up
WELLINGTON, July 4 - The New Zealand dollar <NZD=> eased on Friday against a rallying U.S. dollar, though light trade and little domestic news kept the currency inside a tight range.
The main action for the kiwi came in offshore trade, when it hit a one-week low after key U.S. jobs data was not as bad as investors had expected, offering the U.S. currency some respite from its recent sell-off.
The U.S. dollar had already been on a firmer footing after the European Central Bank raised interest rates as expected on Thursday, to 4.25 percent, but also cooled speculation of further tightening to come.
Activity in the kiwi thinned out in domestic trading ahead of the U.S. Independence Day holiday, though it found some support as the U.S. dollar rally began to fade.
"The kiwi is in a bit of range trading, with the focus switching to what the U.S. dollar is doing," said Daniel Brdanovic, senior manager of treasury at HSBC.
At 0500 GMT, the kiwi was at $0.7556/66 down from $0.7596/00 in late local trade on Thursday, after trading a $0.7544-$0.7563 local range. It had hit a low of $0.7541 offshore.
Next week is another quiet one for local data, with the main focus the NZ Institute of Economic Research's quarterly survey of business opinion.
New Zealand government debt firmed, following U.S. Treasuries higher, with the yield on the benchmark NZ government 10-year bond <NZ10YT=RR> falling one basis point to 6.33 percent.
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