Sharemarket rally pauses, but good gains for some stocks

The kiwi dollar was trading at 70.36 US cents at 5pm in Wellington, down from 70.52 cents yesterday.

The trade-weighted index was at 73.70 at 5pm, from 73.85 yesterday. The kiwi traded at 94.15 Australian cents from 94.87 cents, 73.47 yen from 73.45 yen, 58.17 euro cents unchanged from yesterday, 52.62 British pence from 52.72 pence, and 4.6035 Chinese yuan from 4.6022 yuan.

Pat Gilligan, a director at Forex Ltd, said the currency was just pausing for breath after being pushed higher by weakness in the US dollar throughout November.

On Dec. 4 the dollar briefly hit 71 US cents but has trended lower since, dipping down near 70 cents.