Quiet start for NZ dollar

November 26 - Open

The New Zealand dollar was unable to hold onto limited gains against a broadly weakening greenback overnight, and sank to a five-month low against the Australian currency.

By 8am today the kiwi was buying US72.83c, little changed from its level at 5pm yesterday.

Against the Australian dollar, the New Zealand currency fell through much of the night and at 8am was at A78.39c, near session lows which saw the kiwi at its lowest level against the aussie since June.

Strength in the Australian dollar followed a resoundingly upbeat speech yesterday that fuelled speculation of an increase in interest rates from Reserve Bank of Australia deputy governor Ric Battellino.

Meanwhile, the US dollar weakness saw the greenback slide to a fresh 15-month low against a basket of currencies as upbeat data on weekly jobless claims, consumer spending and new home sales bolstered the outlook for the US economy.

The greenback reached a 15-month low against the euro and a 10-month low against the yen.

The NZ dollar was able to take advantage of the greenback's weakness during the first part of the overnight session, getting to US73.30c before 1am, but it then fell away.

BNZ Capital strategist Mike Jones said the reason the NZ dollar had not done as well as some of its peers was mainly due to interest in selling the kiwi against the aussie.

The RBA comments yesterday had highlighted differences between the economy of this country and that of Australia, Mr Jones said.

The NZ dollar fell to three-week lows against the European and Japanese currencies, and at 8am was at 0.4824 euros and 63.72 yen from 0.4859 euros and 64.30 yen at 5pm. The trade weighted index fell to 64.45 from 64.76.

NZPA