The New Zealand dollar followed equity markets lower after the International Monetary Fund cut its forecast for global growth, snapping demand for risk-sensitive currencies such as the kiwi.
The New Zealand dollar fell to 81.84 US cents at 8am in Wellington from 82.27 cents at 5pm yesterday. The trade weighted index decreased to 73.16 from 73.38 yesterday.
The IMF sounded an alarm over the global economic slowdown, cutting its 2012 and 2013 growth forecasts. The global economy will expand 3.3 per cent this year and 3.6 per cent in 2013, it said in its World Economic Outlook. That's down from its July forecast of 3.5 per cent for 2012 and 3.9 per cent in 2013.
Equity markets fell on both sides of the Atlantic. Wall Street's Standard and Poor's 500 Index shed 0.7 per cent, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 0.6 per cent. France's CAC 40 declined 0.7 per cent.
"The global forecasts are probably correct and there is safe-haven buying on the back of it" helping push the New Zealand dollar lower, said Tim Kelleher, head of intuitional FX sales NZ at ASB Institutional.