Rates At 0430 GMT Late Change NZD/USD 0.8068 +0.59% NZD/AUD 0.7694 -0.18% NZD/JPY 61.1840 +0.56% April 2015 Bond 2.80% +4.0 bps April 2023 Bond 4.07% +1.5 bps 10-Year U.S. Spread +2.06 -3.0 bps 90-Day Bank Bill 2.74% unch SYDNEY (Dow Jones)--The New Zealand dollar was a touch higher Monday in thin trading as increasing worries over Europe's debt crisis pared back part of a late Friday gain. Weighing on the New Zealand dollar, talks between Greece and its private-sector creditors over a debt writedown plan stalled over how much Greece would pay its bondholders in the future. After progress on the talks had lifted the local unit late Friday, many of those gains were erased in a morning decline ahead of a key meeting of euro-zone finance ministers later in the global day. Even so, traders said a month's worth of steady gains for the New Zealand dollar were likely to continue in the coming days. Helped in part by still improving sentiment about Europe, with the crisis failing to deepen in recent weeks. "We have been too early calling for an end to the corrective rally which started in November, positive momentum is intact and likely to push it to US$0.8110 at least," said Imre Speizer, senior market strategist for Westpac Bank in New Zealand. At 0430 GMT, the New Zealand dollar was trading at US$0.8068, up from US$0.8020 late Friday. Against the Australian dollar, the New Zealand currency changed hands at A$0.7694, down from A$0.7708. From an economic standpoint, however, the tone in New Zealand post-Rugby World Cup has quite clearly worsened, said JPMorgan chief economist Stephen Walters, noting the economy is likely to continue to disappoint. Given the dour outlook, and the impact of additional recent earthquakes on already fragile sentiment, JPMorgan expects the Reserve Bank of New Zealand to change its recent tone at its meeting later this week. "We do not expect rate cuts, but the governor (of the RBNZ) will not want to sound tone-deaf to downside risks. We expect a statement Thursday that sticks by the assumed upbeat growth trajectory driven by earthquake reconstruction, but acknowledges also that the bank has flexibility to support growth if necessary," said Walters. -By Geoffrey Rogow, Dow Jones Newswires; +61-2-8272-4686; geoffrey.rogow@dowjones.com (Data provided by Reuters)

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