NZ dollar dips against US, Aussie

The New Zealand dollar came under pressure today after the Australian dollar fell in response to weak economic data, and as investors again turned off investments they perceived to be risky.

By 5pm the NZ dollar was buying US72.49c, down from US72.83c at 8am and US72.84c at 5pm yesterday.

The Australian dollar fell on news of a 3.9 per cent fall in private capital expenditure in the third quarter but an upward revision for plans for 2009/10 was also noted.

"The data was quite a big surprise and dragged on the aussie," said BNZ Capital strategist Mike Jones.

"More generally we've also had bad global news, which has tended to pare risk appetite back a bit," he said.

The US dollar fell to its lowest level in 14 years against the yen today, breaking through 87.00 yen to be 86.71 yen at 5pm. The US Federal Reserve's tolerance of a weak greenback is encouraging investors into other currencies like the yen and euro.

Against the Australian dollar, the New Zealand currency fell on Wednesday night to a five-month low and was at A78.41c at 5pm from A78.61c yesterday.

The NZ dollar has been around three-week lows against the European and Japanese currencies, and at 5pm was at 0.4798 euros and 62.86 yen from 0.4859 euros and 64.30 yen yesterday. The trade weighted index fell to 64.14 from 64.76.

- NZPA