NZ dollar gains against the euro

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The New Zealand dollar rose to a new five-month high against the euro on speculation European banks may struggle to strengthen their balance sheets enough to meet criteria for financial aid.

The New Zealand dollar rose to 61.05 euro cents from 60.85 cents yesterday and reached a high of 61.13 cents overnight.

The currency fell to 78.13 US cents at 8am from 78.86 cents at 5pm yesterday.

The 17-nation euro weakened against most major currencies as European shares fell, led by Italy's largest bank, UniCredit which lost 17.3 per cent, following a 14.5 decrease a day earlier.

The European Banking Authority told four Italian banks they needed to boost their capital and submit their recapitalisation plans to the central bank by the established January 20 deadline.

"Europe is run by fear - fear banks are not getting funding and fear of sovereign debt," said Stuart Ive, senior currency strategist at HiFX. "We are still yet to see a conclusive way of dealing with the problem."

France's borrowing costs rose at a bond sale yesterday as credit-rating companies threatened to cut the nation's top AAA ranking.

It had to pay a higher yield on the 10-year issue, selling 7.96 billion euros of debt at a yield of 3.2 per cent, up from 3.18 per cent in a sale in early December.

"Bond issue in itself wasn't that bad, it wasn't a failure - but it's another additional thing weakening the euro," Ive said.

Local data releases resume next week with overseas trade and building consents, followed by the New Zealand Institute of Economic Research's quarterly survey of business opinion the following week.

The first major piece of data will be the fourth-quarter consumer price index on January 19, followed by the Reserve Bank's official cash rate review on January 26.

In the US, non-farm payrolls and employment rate are scheduled for release today.
The kiwi slipped to 60.26 yen from 60.37 yen yesterday, and fell to 76.04 Australian cents from 76.17 cents.

It was little changed at 50.38 pence from 50.41 pence yesterday.

The trade-weighted index was at 69.95 from 70.07.