NZ dollar volatile on equity market

February 5 - Currency Close

The New Zealand dollar had a volatile session reacting to offshore markets today after taking a pounding yesterday from worse-than-expected unemployment statistics.

Investors are increasingly worried about the levels of sovereign, or government debt, in Europe. They are dumping shares and non-US dollar currencies.

Non-farm payroll data due in the US tonight adds another uncertainty to the mix.

The NZ dollar was US69.01c at 5pm from US68.83c at 8am and US69.80c at 5pm yesterday.

It fell to a five-month low of US68.45c on Thursday night and spent today's session between around US69c and US68.58c.

Dealers stressed that weakness overnight was not confined to the NZ dollar.

"A lot of currencies got aggressively sold against the US dollar last night," one dealer said.

The euro fell to its lowest level in eight months against the US dollar in Asian trading today at $1.3669 and was $1.3716 at 5pm.

"At the moment we are being driven very strongly by what is happening with equity markets and the aussie as well," he said.

The NZ dollar had been to the bottom and top of today's range twice today.

The NZ dollar was A79.49c at 5pm from A79.26c at 5pm yesterday. It was 0.5030 euro from 0.5028 yesterday and 61.87 yen from 63.44.

The trade weighted index fell to 64.10 from 64.52.

- NZPA