NZ dollar drifts lower after early lift

The New Zealand dollar drifted lower during its domestic session after gaining nearly a cent overnight as investors regained their risk appetite amid an apparently stabilising situation in Greece and general market optimism.

The NZ dollar drifted to US70.45c at 5pm after reaching US70.80c in early trading from US69.90c at 5pm yesterday.

"The absence of more bad news on Greece, combined with some upbeat global data, saw risk appetite improve and equity markets post solid gains overnight," BNZ markets strategist Mike Jones said.

Imre Speizer, currency strategist at Westpac, said the market would not have detail on help for Greece until mid-March.

"It seemed to recede in the minds of the global market. It is still there but it is not like it is the hot topic of the night," he said.

"Last night's hot topic was better US data and better equity sentiment."

There was little news to trade off today. The NZ dollar was at 63.62 yen at 5pm from 62.86 yesterday. It was at A78.23c at 5pm from A78.44c at the same time yesterday.

Against the euro, it was little changed at 0.5116, from yesterday's 0.5130.

The trade-weighted index was 64.93 from 64.76 yesterday.

- NZPA