NZ dollar recovers from break below US70c

The New Zealand dollar recovered a tumble to a seven-week low against the greenback as equity markets firmed today.

The NZ dollar was at US70.29c at 5pm from US69.86c at 8am and US70.15c at 5pm yesterday.

The rise came as Asian stock markets rose as investors hunted for bargains and as corporate results in this market showed companies were well positioned for the recovery.

The yen eased further from its recent 15 year highs as speculation continued that Japan will intervene.

Finance Minister Bill English said the recovery in the New Zealand economy will be patchy but it will be led by exports but dealers said his observations were not a big factor in trading.

On Wednesday night European equity markets started out positively, helped by better than expected data from the Munich-based Ifo think tank, showing German business morale rose to its highest level in more than three years in August.

"This was soon reversed once the US opened, with durable goods and new home sales data continuing to disappoint and this saw the NZ dollar break below key (US70c) support," ANZ said.

The break of the US70c is being closely watched for developments in overnight trading.

The NZ dollar was at A79.28c against the Australian dollar at 5pm, little changed from A79.37c at the same time yesterday.

It was at 0.5529 euro from 0.5547 and at 59.53 yen from 59.11 yen yesterday.

The trade weighted index was at 65.95 at 5pm from 65.91 yesterday.

- NZPA