By LUCY CRAYMER WELLINGTON--The New Zealand dollar was trading higher late Friday against the U.S. dollar as the currency moved steadily higher over the session on improved risk-on sentiment. HiFX Senior Trader Stuart Ive said the New Zealand dollar had bounced off the lows seen on Tuesday due to improved sentiment on overnight news out of Europe and slightly-better weekly U.S. employment data. He added that the New Zealand dollar had broken through resistance at US$0.8230 mid-afternoon, which helped its upward track. The markets are now squaring up ahead of the U.S. nonfarm payrolls report due to be released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics later in the global day. "Markets will focus on tonight's nonfarm payrolls report, which will incorporate the population changes announced by the BLS last week," said Bank of New Zealand currency strategist Mike Jones. "That should boost payrolls by an average of 30,000 per month since March, which implies that there has been a slightly sharper fall in unemployment." New Zealand government bonds fell following Australian government bonds, which were also lower, says a local trader. The interest rate swap curve also steepened, mirroring offshore moves.

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