Wellington, April 29 NZPA - The New Zealand dollar got some lift last night from a generally weaker greenback, with markets relatively quiet ahead of a decision on US interest rates on Thursday morning (NZT).

By 8am today the kiwi was buying US78.51c from US78.37c at 5pm yesterday. The NZ dollar was also slightly up against the euro to 0.5020 from 0.5010.

The kiwi eased slightly against the Australian dollar and the yen, buying A83.65c at today's local open from A83.77c, and at 81.80 yen from 81.93 at yesterday's local close.

The trade weighted index was 70.06 at 8am from 70.02 at 5pm.

ANZ bank said the NZ dollar had a relatively quiet start to the week as the fortunes of the euro stabilised.

New Zealand March trade data due out at 10.45am today was unlikely to knock the kiwi out of recent ranges, ANZ said.

Against the Australian dollar, the kiwi looked to have found a ledge that had cushioned its fall.

That ledge was around A83.33c for now and until the cross sufficiently tested the key support around that level it would remain trapped within a tight range, ANZ said.

The US dollar's rally stalled overnight as investors bought euros to square up positions ahead of the US interest rate decision.

US short term interest rates futures are showing the market perceives an 82 percent chance that the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates by a quarter percentage point to 2 percent.

Meanwhile, with global inflation rising, some analysts are speculating that the Fed could indicate it is approaching the end of its cycle of drastic interest rate cuts.

NZPA WGT Reuters mjd nb