Dollar enjoys late rally, climbs over US71c

The New Zealand dollar bounced back this afternoon, after falling against the greenback as the US market was affected by US President Barack Obama's plan to curb bank risk-taking.

The NZ dollar also lost ground on the wake of uncertainty about the future of Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke, which also took a toll on US markets.

But the Kiwi dollar was buying US71.49c around 5pm higher than the US70.95c this morning, and US71.30c at 5pm Friday.

The dollar was at A78.96c, compared to A78.86c Friday. Against the euro, it also rose to 0.5050, stronger than 0.5014 euro at around 10am, a new low for the year, and 0.5046 at Friday's close.

The NZ dollar was at 64.50 yen from 64.06, and against the British currency, it stood at 0.4440, compared to 0.4395 on Friday. The trade weighted index slightly rose from 65.04 at 5pm on Friday to 65.21 at around 5pm today.

Westpac strategist Imre Speizer said the NZ dollar would continue to be affected by an aversion to risk and tipped a quiet session due to the Wellington Anniversary holiday.

He said the euro had been helped by stronger European industrial orders and a bond issue by Greece while the yen had benefitted from the uncertainty.

- NZPA