Dollar lower, investors avoid risk

The New Zealand dollar finished off the lows of the session but the theme of the day was a pullback in risk appetite after global economic data failed to live up to expectations.

The NZ dollar fell as low as US72.56c, a two-week low, but recovered to US72.95c at 5pm from US73.07c at 8am and US73.77c a t 5pm yesterday.

Investors have put the opposition Labour Party's abandonment of a consensus on the monetary policy framework this week aside as global trends took over.

"Sentiment has been driven out of equity markets," BNZ Capital strategist Mike Jones said.

US stocks slid on Thursday on the feeling that the US economy lost momentum in the third quarter.

"Some of the negative sentiment from the offshore session washed through to Asian equity markets," Mr Jones said.

The Australian dollar tested support at US91.50c but recovered to US91.82c by 5pm.

The NZ dollar eased to A79.40c at 5pm from A79.76c at 5pm yesterday.

It was at 0.4889 euro from 0.4946 yesterday, and 64.86 yen from 65.73.

The trade weighted index dropped to 65.12 from 65.78 yesterday.

- NZPA