WELLINGTON (Dow Jones)--The New Zealand dollar remained in a tight range after pushing higher overnight on the back of a weaker U.S. dollar, as investors fretted about the size and timing of possible quantitative easing to be announced by the Federal Reserve next week. Westpac currency strategist Imre Speizer said investors overlooked domestic trade and building consents data and that the focus has now shifted to U.S. data due later in the global trading day, in particular third-quarter gross domestic product data. "Tonight's batch of U.S. data, notably GDP, as well as the ebb and flow of QE2 speculation, will dominate currency direction" with the market remaining volatile ahead of the Federal Open Market Committee meeting next week, said Speizer. In the short term he tips the kiwi to remain in a range of US$0.7440 to US$0.7640. Government bonds weakened, while swap rates moved higher, in particular longer dated swaps. A local bond trader said while the market is widely expecting the Reserve Bank of New Zealand to keep rates on hold at 3.00% until at least March, it is starting to price in a more aggressive tightening cycle when the central bank does move off the sidelines. -By Rebecca Howard, Dow Jones Newswires; 64-4-471-5990; rebecca.howard@dowjones.com

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