WELLINGTON (Dow Jones)--The New Zealand dollar was largely unchanged late Wednesday having given back its early gains when the Australian dollar weakened after reaching parity. The Kiwi shrugged off Tuesday's weak domestic retail sales data and news of the government's worsening fiscal position and was trading at US$0.7541 early in New Zealand, "over-ridden by international trends being a little bit more positive," said Western Union Business Solutions corporate dealing manager Chris Hunter. Over the course of the session, however, it pared most of those gains, tracking the Australian dollar down. The Australian dollar was trading at US$0.9962 at 0413 GMT. "It wouldn't surprise me if it's a whole lot of profit taking. Every man and his dog has positions at parity," said Hunter. Hunter said he expects the Australian dollar to have another stab at parity overnight, especially if U.S. equities are positive, which will likely pull up the New Zealand dollar, although not to the same degree given the weaker local economic backdrop in New Zealand. He tipped New Zealand dollar support at US$0.7480, with resistance at US$0.7575. Government bonds were weaker, in particular at the long end of the curve, while swap rates pushed higher, again largely in the long end. A local bond trader said the market was largely following offshore movement, in particular that of U.S. Treasurys after a strong retail sales report and firm commitment from the Federal Reserve to support the economy. -By Rebecca Howard, Dow Jones Newswires; 64-4-471-5990; rebecca.howard@dowjones.com

Source