The New Zealand dollar fell against the greenback as risk sentiment improved after weaker than expected growth for major trading partner China.

Chinese official growth figures came in at 7.6 per cent, creating an increased interest in risk assets.

The kiwi recently traded at US79.53c, down from US79.67c in the morning. It was at 72.30 on the Trade Weighted Index against the major currencies, down from 72.31.

HiFX currency trader Alex Hill said the kiwi had drifted off the high seen in the morning.

''We saw a little bit of buying interest in a thin liquidity market. We were hoping that the lows we saw last week may have opened a new range for us but the kiwi is back to where it started at the beginning of last week,'' Hill said.

''It just goes to show that markets are still a little bit undecided. All currencies are back in familiar ranges at the moment.''

On the crosses, the kiwi was unchanged at 77.75 Australian cents and traded at 64.96 euro cents, down from 64.98 euro cents earlier. It was at 51.07 pence, down form 51.15 pence.

Hill expected the dollar to trade between US79.30c and US80.20c overnight with a bias towards the topside.

''We have got quite a bit of data coming out of Europe this week and there is also the New Zealand consumer price index tomorrow. There is an expectation it will be up around 0.5 per cent.''

- © Fairfax NZ News