WELLINGTON (Dow Jones)--The New Zealand dollar was trading slightly higher late Wednesday but remained glued to a tight range in a fairly lackluster session. "It's pretty quiet. There is not much going through. Not much flow. We are just seeing it drift lower throughout the day," said HSBC Chief Manager Daniel Brdanovic. Brdanovic said risk appetite was bolstered after a strong night on Wall Street but investors were also cautious after the S&P 500 broke through its 200-day moving average. "It may have people questioning whether they need to put on a bit more risk or whether they sell this rally, which has probably caused a little bit of uncertainty," he said. "I don't know if the market is fully convinced this is a rally to buy into or to sell into," he added, noting that resistance on the Kiwi was around US$0.7020-US$0.7035. News that consumer optimism rose in New Zealand in the June quarter failed to stir the Kiwi. The Westpac-McDermott Miller Consumer Confidence Index rose to 119.3 points in the second quarter from 114.7 in the first quarter and was close to September's high of 120.3. Traders said, however, the result was largely factored in. Brdanovic said investors would remain focused on equity markets overnight to see whether the rally was sustained and would also be watching for industrial production data out of the U.S. for any direction on the global economic recovery. Government bonds weakened while interest rate swaps pushed higher, largely on the back of similar moves in Australia and strong equity markets overnight, a local bond trader said. "Bonds appear to be a little unloved at the moment," he said. He said a government bond tender scheduled for Thursday was likely to be fairly successful, however, as the tender is relatively small. The Debt Management Office is planning to offer NZ$50 million of April 2015 bonds and NZ$50 million of May 2021 bonds. By Rebecca Howard, Dow Jones Newswires; 64-4-471-5990; rebecca.howard@dowjones.com

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