* New Zealand dollar hits strongers since March 2019
* Major currencies market otherwise stays quiet
* Graphic: World FX rates in 2020 https://tmsnrt.rs/2RBWI5E
By Olga Cotaga
LONDON, Nov 11 (Reuters) - The U.S. dollar stabilised as
optimism about a potential coronavirus vaccine was offset by
worries about how the drug will be delivered and by a surge of
new infections in the United States.
The New Zealand dollar recovered from an early dip to its
strongest in a year and a half as traders scaled back bets that
the central bank would move to negative interest rates.
Initial optimism about a coronavirus vaccine pushed the
dollar down against riskier currencies and up against the
safe-haven yen and the Swiss franc. That momentum is starting to
fade because obstacles remain before a vaccine can be
distributed.
"With the global daily infections from the coronavirus
accelerating yesterday, it seems that concerns over the
pandemic's economic impact may have limited further gains in
equities and other risk-linked assets," said Charalambos
Pissouros, senior market analyst at JFD Group.
"It is still too early to start cheering that the covid era
is behind us," he said.
The euro was last trading flat at $1.1809 EUR=EBS , while
the Japanese yen fell 0.1% against the U.S. dollar at 105.38
JPY=EBS .
Sterling was around 0.1% stronger against both the dollar
and the euro GBP=D3 EURGBP=D3 .
The Chinese yuan was stable in the offshore market at 6.6016
CNH=EBS .
Sentiment for the dollar got a boost after Pfizer Inc
PFE.N and BioNTech 22UAy.DE said on Monday their
experimental coronavirus vaccine was 90% effective.
The biggest mover in the G10 space was the Kiwi dollar,
which jumped to 0.6904 versus the U.S. dollar NZD=D3 in the
Asian trading session, its highest since March 2019. It was last
trading up 0.8% on the day.
Against the Australian dollar, the Kiwi strengthened 0.7% at
1.0587 AUDNZD= .
The Reserve Bank of New Zealand kept interest rates on hold
at 0.25% and introduced a new monetary policy tool to encourage
more loans by reducing borrowing costs for banks, which matched
market expectations. RBNZ Governor Adrian Orr also said domestic economic
activity since August has been more resilient than previously
assumed, which many traders took as a sign that the chance of
negative interest rates had receded.
"As a risk-linked currency, the Kiwi may continue to gain
against the U.S. dollar if the financial community stays in a
risk-on mode, and due to the lowering of the negative-rate
chance, it may even outperform the other commodity-linked
currencies, namely the Aussie and the Loonie (Canadian dollar),"
Pissouros said.
The Canadian dollar was down 0.1% at 1.3047 against the U.S.
dollar CAD=D3 .