AUCKLAND, May 9: The New Zealand dollar ended Friday's session strongly but the market, after three attempts, failed to break through resistance at US$0.6880. The Kiwi closed at 0.6878/85 up from 0.6848/55 at the open, having traded a 0.6847-81 range during a day peppered with local and overseas buying.

The Trade-Weighted Index finished at 67.87 from 67.71 and one dealer said the lower TWI this morning may have encouraged some buying.

"Personally I don't agree with that because the Reserve Bank still wants the TWI lower. But I think that's the way the local market is looking at it at the moment," he said. Another reason for the rally may have been the amount of domestic data due out next week, which is expected to confirm a general slowdown in the economy.

"Maybe the market was looking to take back a few shorts to square up for next week," he said. Given the sticky resistance at 0.6880, that level was likely to remain the top for the time being. "I think it's going to struggle to go much higher from here, so I would tend to think 0.6880-85 will hold it and we'll probably test back to 0.6855 overnight," he said.

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.