Currency: Dollar falls against Aussie

The New Zealand dollar lost ground today against an Australian dollar, buoyed by better than expected growth data.

The NZ dollar was A79.30c at 5pm from A80.01c at the same time yesterday.

The Australian dollar was US82.56c by 5pm, up sharply from the US80.97c at the same time yesterday.

The catalyst was news that Australia's economy expanded by a stronger than expected 0.4 per cent in the March quarter, meaning the country avoided the technical definition of recession.

"(The Australian dollar) has gotten a bit of a leg up after those national account reports showed the Australian economy was able to dodge a recession," Commonwealth Bank currency strategist Joseph Capurso said.

The decline of the NZ dollar against the Australian dollar was seen as good news for New Zealand exporters.

Otherwise the NZ dollar paused today after posting strong gains mostly due to weakness in the US dollar. The US dollar hovered around fresh lows for the year today ahead of a testimony from Federal reserve chairman Ben Bernanke.

The NZ dollar was US65.47c at 5pm from US65.75c at 8am and US64.80c at 5pm yesterday. It peaked around US65.95c on Tuesday night, its best level in almost eight months.

New Zealand's trade weighted index had moved back towards its long term average - having climbed 4 per cent last week and 9 per cent in the past month, BNZ Capital currency strategist Danica Hampton said.

The trade weighted index was at 61.07 at 5pm today from 60.95 yesterday.

By 5pm the NZ dollar was at 62.56 yen from 62.50 yesterday, and was up to 0.4572 euro from 0.4574.

Currency rates:

5pm today 5pm yesterday

NZ dlr/US dlr US65.47c US64.80c

NZ dlr/Aust dlr A79.30c A80.01c

NZ dlr/euro 0.4572 0.4574

NZ dlr/yen 62.56 62.50

NZ dlr/stg 39.40p 39.39p

NZ TWI 61.07 60.95

Aust dlr/US dlr 82.56c 80.97c

Euro/US dlr 1.4320 1.4165

US dlr/yen 95.60 96.47

- NZPA